6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog: Pinch-Hit Stairway To Heaven: Dodgers 1, Rockies 0

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Thursday, July 02, 2009

Pinch-Hit Stairway To Heaven: Dodgers 1, Rockies 0

I genuinely hate getaway day games, not least because I forget about them as they're going on. In this case, it turned out to be a good thing, because by the time I tuned in it was the eighth inning and Rafael Furcal came to the plate to pinch-hit for reliever Ramon Troncoso, and pinch-runner Russell Martin at second, only the second Dodger baserunner in scoring position all day. Of course, Furcal came through with an RBI single, and the Dodgers got away with a win on another excellent performance by Jonathan Broxton.

The box tells me that Clayton Kershaw wobbled through five, giving up as many walks as strikeouts (five apiece); the Dodgers' steady bullpen did the rest. On the other side of the game, Jason Hammel pitched a complete game and lost, a fact that may have been yet another Jim Tracy boneheaded maneuver. That is, knowing you have to face Broxton in the ninth with a Dodger lead, why leave your starter in there?

In any case, Hammel appears to be one of the nicer little trades the Rockies have executed in some time, getting a 26-year-old starter with an ERA+ of 116 with 7 quality starts in 13 tries, that mostly because he hasn't met the innings requirement. Outside of three bad starts on May 8, May 30, and June 20, he's been a very solid performer for the Rockies. In fact, here's something I hadn't even suspected about the Rockies this year: four of their five pitchers in the starting rotation have an ERA+ well over 100. They're righting the ship over there.

And, oh yeah, win #50. Good show, guys.

Yahoo box • Dodgers recap

Labels: dodgers, recaps, rockies