6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog: You Wouldn't Like Him When He's Motivated: Mariners 8, Dodgers 5

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Wednesday, June 21, 2006

You Wouldn't Like Him When He's Motivated: Mariners 8, Dodgers 5

For a brief while it looked like the Dodgers might stand a chance at a win; up 5-2 going into the seventh, there ought to have been enough pitching in the cupboard to seal a win. Takashi Saito hadn't been used in a while, and Broxton has been good enough to pull together at least an inning and a third or so.

But it wasn't to be; major league win number one for Chad Billingsley will have to wait. Bills, who threw a ton of pitches (97 through five innings), nonetheless held the Mariners, a slightly-below-average offense, to only two runs. Blowups by Broxton, who recorded no outs but gave up a pair of runs, and Danys Baez, who surrendered four runs, managed to deflate the team's expectations in a matter of two innings.

Part of this is learning curve, at least for Broxton, but for Baez there's no analogous excuse. As hot as the Dodgers were just a few weeks ago, so now do they seem nearly as cold as the Angels, and afflicted with opposite problems: not enough pitching, but offense that seems capable of scoring plenty of runs. I know the two clubs never trade with each other (that Andy Messersmith thing really must hurt, still), but maybe something can be worked out.

Unfortunately, as with last night, the star of the game just happened to be former Dodger Adrian Beltre. 3-4 with a pair of RBIs, Beltre did his best work in late innings, doubling in a pair on a double, and scoring a run himself. I'll be happy if that means he doesn't do anything else the rest of the year, but the last thing the Angels need is a resurgence of Beltre in Starbucks City.

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// posted by Rob @ 10:29 PM link // 0 comments