Sunday, April 17, 2005 |
The Damnation Of The Saints: Dodgers 8, Padres 3
But the Pads last night didn't appear to me to be a club that should be thinking "contention", anyway. Sure, they have a really good chance on paper of winning this division -- there's no clear winner here right now -- but when you see Phil Nevin make great saves in the first and third, yet horribly screw up a routine play in the second inning, when Ryan Klesko botches fielding a single that turns it into a double -- it all adds up. Adam Eaton, normally a Dodger-killer, mysteriously disappeared for three innings, replaced by run-donor Eaton. Sure, it wasn't all his fault -- only three of those were earned -- but the Pads had nothing going for them last night. Even the normally rock-solid Scott Linebrink turned wild, gave up two earned runs on two walks and a hit in a third of an inning. One of them wouldn't have scored, save for yet another Padres screwup at third, when 3B Sean Burroughs skied a throw to second, foiling a double play and costing the team yet another run. It doesn't rain but it pours.
As for the Dodgers, like aluminum siding salesmen, they never missed an opening, and quickly capitalized on nearly every one of the Padres' multitudinous mistakes. Ricky Ledee, who'll never be mistaken for a major league regular, slugged in a home run off former Dodger Rudy Seanez, but was otherwise 1-4; Jayson Werth can't get back soon enough, as far as I'm concerned. Even Jason Grabowski managed to go 1-3, one of his best outings in the bigs ever.
Scott Erickson gave the Dodgers one of his better outings, giving up two earned runs on three walks and four hits. Don't let the score fool you; he's a band-aid at the bottom of the rotation, one waiting to peel off after a couple showers to unveil the ugly scars beneath. That the bullpen has been as good as it has is a tribute to everyone in the Dodgers organization, and the fact that they've been facing largely depleted teams so far. We'll see what happens once we get to the Cards.
Another big story was Choi's absence from the lineup. Interestingly, Tracy claimed he wanted to bench Choi because of the matchup with Eaton, a power pitcher. First, lefties are eating into his playing time; now, we understand the Wood/Eaton/Clemens class of righties will cause Tracy to pencil in Olmedo Saenz, Nakamura, or -- gulp -- Jason Grabowski at first. Though the official denials have already started ("I'm trying to create situations to give him the best opportunities to get confident and get completely untracked"), last year's half-season of futility followed by this reduced duty gives credance to those saying Choi's bat is too slow to catch up to 95 MPH heat. I plan on watching Tracy's deployment of Choi very carefully in the coming days.
Finally, I just wanted to glow some about that goggle-wearin' hero, Jason Phillips, who just continues to impress the heck out of me, and is rapidly turning into one of DePo's smarter acquisitions. 3-4 on the night with two RBIs, the kid's just what the Dodgers needed at catcher; he's making his 2003 look increasingly repeatable, and that's a happy thought for the Blue Crew.
-vishal
: 4/17/2005 12:17:00 PM
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