Wednesday, May 12, 2004 |
Cora's Groundhog Day At Bat: Dodgers 4, Cubs 0
Man, the Cubs are givin' 'em away. Helen thought Chicago seemed lifeless on the field, possibly in reaction to the news that Kerry Wood will miss at least one start. Their bats certainly didn't have any pop, as they never advanced a runner beyond second base the whole night, and ended the night with nine strikeouts. Clement had good stuff, but -- in the most bizarre inning I've seen recently -- gave up every kind of weirdo infield hit imagineable. Alvarez singled to center, then --
- Izzy flied out.
- Paulie got an infield single to third, a swinging bunt that Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez thought would roll foul but never did. The scorer initially ruled this E5 but changed his mind later.
- Bradley singled to Clement. Clement, in turn lobbed the ball -- he didn't throw -- from his knees to first. That cost him a step, and the inning, as...
- Green singled in the run, again on an infield hit that took a weird hop at third.
- Beltre hit an infield single to third that dribbled up the line.
And in the seventh, Cora's phenominal Groundhog Day at bat. Every pitch, for fourteen pitches, fouled off. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. Spiezio's in the World Series seemed long, but nothing like this. New Dodger blogger On the DL (and hello to you, too, Dan!) breaks down the at bat. Helen told me at pitch 17, "He's fouled that one off to left. He's made an adjustment. He's ahead of him. He'll get a hit on the next pitch."
See ya.
A. Martinez in the postgame show said that baseball doesn't keep records on most pitches in a single at bat, but maybe they should. That was for the ages, man. And, as Helen reminds me, we have now seen both of Alex Cora's 2004 home runs, live.
Oh, yeah, and we finally got to meet Jon. And yes, we must do this again soon.
Beltre hopped around as usual after each at bat. Now we know why: he needs surgery to correct bone chips in his ankle he acquired last year. Great.
mattkew
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