6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog: Sexy In Seventeen: Dodgers 5, Padres 4

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Sunday, April 29, 2007

Sexy In Seventeen: Dodgers 5, Padres 4

Man, do I hate extra-innings games, so I'll nominate two players for ignominy in this one, Derek Lowe for giving up four earned runs so we had to go to extras, and Marcus Giles for driving in Geoff Blum. Consecutive third-inning solo homers by Jeff Kent and Luis Gonzalez were the only scoring the Dodgers would do through a mind-bending 14 innings, until Wilson Valdez bunted in the top of the 17th; he reached on an error as actual catcher Rob Bowen fielded the ball but nominal-reserve-catcher-cum-first-baseman Pete LaForest couldn't handle Bowen's throw. Brady Clark doubled in Valdez on a hot smash down the left field line that was only a few feet fair. Jose Cruz, Jr. made a good but imperfect throw that allowed Valdez to score.

The Dodgers very nearly got another run when third baseman Ramon Martinez lined out to third; a couple feet either way and that could have been extra bases.

The Dodgers got impressive work out of their bullpen in this one, surrendering only one hit and two walks over ten and two-thirds innings, while striking out nine. All the Dodgers' relievers were as good as you could ask them to be today, but none deserved as much applause as Chad Billingsley, who worked his way out of trouble in the bottom of the 17th after Mike Cameron reached on Valdez's error at third, a stolen base, and a walk to Geoff Blum, all with one out. Billingsley then struck out Rob Bowen and Kevin Kouzmanoff to end the game, the longest in the majors so far this year at 17 innings and 4:55. Incidentally, the Padres set a three-game series attendance record, with 130,448.

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