6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog: Hendrickson Sees His Reflection: Dodgers 8, Rockies 1

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Thursday, April 19, 2007

Hendrickson Sees His Reflection: Dodgers 8, Rockies 1

Hendrickson's role model?

Vampires aren't supposed to be able to see their reflections, but as we know on TV, production costs have a way of changing things. Mark Hendrickson, then, must be a Buffyverse vampire, for three reasons:

He has a way of sucking the life out of the Dodgers.
Sometimes, he seems to be good (i.e., 4.44 ERA as a starter overall in 2006, but a 0.97 ERA in relief).
But even when you think he's on your side, you're never really sure.

Hendrickson was just about as unbelievable as you could imagine him being at Coors, whose reputation as a pitching hell has been well-deserved. I went to the restroom at the office while this was going on, and suddenly found Aaron Cook making a stew of things, surrendering a run on a bases-loaded walk in the third that was merely prelude to a Jeff Baker misplay at first that allowed a pair of runs to score, both unearned.

As for his transformation, no soul injection was required, only a visit to a sports psychologist:

When Jason Schmidt couldn't get outs this month, the problem turned out to be his shoulder. When Mark Hendrickson couldn't get outs last year, the problem was a little higher.
Hendrickson sought the counsel of sports psychologist Dr. Ken Ravizza and the turnaround that started last September continued Thursday when the 6-foot-10 left-hander stood in for the disabled Schmidt and stepped up, pitching 5 2/3 innings for the victory in an 8-1 Dodgers win over the Rockies.
Hendrickson has been working with Ravizza since he was demoted to the bullpen last September, having come up empty as a starter, the role for which the Dodgers obtained him from Tampa Bay last June 27 with Toby Hall for Dioner Navarro and Jae Seo. He has not been shy to credit Ravizza, although it's been Hendrickson who's been making the quality pitches.
"I attribute a lot to him," Hendrickson said of Ravizza, who teaches at Cal State Fullerton, "and I attribute a lot to myself. I want to be a better all-around player. He's just another coach. I have coaches on the field and off the field."

It didn't change his punchout rate any, though, which means that even when effective — as today — he still isn't getting enough K's so's you'd believe he'll be able to repeat this in front of an actual offense. The Rockies' lineup is full of young guys, and two of them (Atkins and Jamie Carroll) provided the swing-and-misses; surprisingly, Hendrickson wasn't able to knock out the pitcher, who ought to be an easy mark.

So the Dodgers get lucky on one emergency start in Jason Schmidt's stead, piecing together a real offensive clubbing of the Rockies. I just have to believe Colorado just isn't this bad, unlucky, or clumsy.

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Labels: dodgers, recaps, rockies