Saturday, May 20, 2006 |
Lather, Rinse, Repeat: Dodgers 8, Angels 4
- Get early lead, preferably against a pitcher of dubious quality.
- Check one or more of the following:
Scioscia leaves in for one too long.
Jeff Weaver implodes.
Chone Figgins makes a crucial, run-causing error.
The normally steady gives up one or more runs to .
Scioscia calls for , who gets shelled.
- Angels are unable to past the fourth inning.
- With the game tied, Mike calls in one or more lousy relievers (if one hasn't already been called in, see step 2). Said relievers then donate a grand slam's worth — or more — of runs in one inning, thus allowing the game to get out of hand late.
- After the loss, , which gets quoted by (check one or more)
Mike DiGiovanna in the Times
Mark Saxon in the Register
Doug Padilla/Ben Villa in the Daily News
Mike Scarr at MLB.com(nah, they never cover that stuff) - This results in someone prematurely declaring the bad times to be over.
Update: I would also be remiss, after this morning's essay on the Angels' kids, to observe that Dallas has finally broken his extra-base-hits drought with today's game. Go, Dallas.
Meantime, if you're the Dodgers, this amounts to one hell of a relief, as the team finally seems to be clicking on all cylinders; pitching is mostly working, the ongoing fears about "proven closer" Danys Baez notwithstanding (though the way the Angels are hitting, today's game hardly seems a fair test). Willy Aybar got on base every time he got to bat, and while I've had a very skeptical view of the Dodgers' prospects — the Dodgers organization is nothing if not PR-savvy — they certainly have played well in this series. Andre Ethier's 1-4 line wasn't anything to be ashamed of, either; if anything, it makes you wonder why they're paying Jose Cruz, Jr. to collect a .235 average.
As for the team's veterans, well, Nomar continues his hot hitting. The collapsing Cubs, who let him walk, could surely use his bat now, but that implies either (a) the existence of a DH in the National League, (b) a hole at 1B, something that MVP candidate Derrek Lee most assuredly is not, or (c) an opening at shortstop. Since none of these conditions hold, the Dodgers, for the moment, employ him happily at first, where he can hit home runs and singles and whatever else he desires, without his stapled-and-glued body coming apart at the (literal) seams.
So, too, from Drew, who managed another homer in today's action — as a pinch hitter. I liked his signing (though not so much the contract) from the outset, and he's finally been delivering. Tomko, who got roughed up early, managed to settle down, and then the Angels had to contend with the likes of Joe Beimel, who should have been called for a balk that instead got called a pickoff, and an exit from the inning.
: 5/20/2006 11:04:00 PM
Tell me the next time you see Scioscia powwowing with Roenicke on a point of positioning or an in-game move. The man has no counsel, no one who can work a laptop, no one who can play devil's advocate with some situational stats. The man is on auto-pilot in more ways than one.
It's not just the Nap bunt boner. It's the positioning on the field. You pointed it out recently with Quinlan at first. It's intentionally walking the bases loaded to get to Jeff Kent (.365 with 13 grand slams under those conditions), beginning a 9-run blowout inning that was the shame of the season.
It's Tampa Bay, with fewer resources and one-third the budget, being four games under .500 while we're ten games under that ignomious mark.
I'm not saying that Joe Maddon is the scion of new baseball science, but he was very much an effective counterbalance to Scioscia's deadball-era baseball prinicples, now seen in full swing (and miss).
: 5/22/2006 08:47:00 AMNewer› ‹Older
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