First and foremost, happy birthday to my buddy David who turns 24 today.
Couple of interesting things: Chin Lung Hu was sent down and Andy Laroche was called up, though I don’t know if he’s in the lineup tonight, so stay tuned on that. It sounds like Luis Maza/Angel Berroa (ech) will play short and Dewitt/Laroche will platoon while Laroche gets some extra time at 2B and 1B, when Kent and Loney need a break, but time will tell.
7:05 p.m. start, at Petco Park in San Diego.
Tonight’s match up is Clayton Kershaw vs. Greg Maddux, so this should be interesting.
Lineups:
Dodgers
- Juan Pierre, LF
- Andre Ethier, RF
- Jeff Kent, 2B
- Russell Martin, C
- James Loney, 1B
- Matt Kemp, CF
- Blake Dewitt, 3B
- Angel Berroa, SS
- Clayton Kershaw, P
Padres
- Scott Hairston, CF
- Edgar Gonzalez, 2B
- Brian Giles, RF
- Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
- Kevin Kouzmanoff, 3B
- Khalil Greene, SS
- Justin Huber, LF
- Michael Barrett, C
- Greg Maddux, P
6:59 p.m. Starting time is at 7:05, eating a grilled cheese right now. Yum.
7:05 p.m. Juan Pierre leadoff single. Let’s see how this one goes.
7:06 p.m. Pierre steals second. I’m in the middle of reading Moneyball, and it states that a base runner must steal successfully 70% of the bases he attempts to create a positive value for the club. Pierre is at about 80%. His BA is down by .010, but his OPB is up by about .015.
Ethier grounds out to the pitcher.
7:13 p.m. Martin hits what must be the closest thing to a definition of a seeing-eye ground ball and Pierre scores from second. Where on Earth was Edgar Gonzalez playing?
Martin shaved, I don’t like it.
7:16 p.m. Martin steals, I like it.
7:17 p.m. Loney walks, I love it!
7:19 p.m. Kemp takes an inside pitch to the opposite field. Granted, it was a fly out to end the inning, but he’s working on his weakness and that’s important.
7:22 p.m. Kershaw’s first pitches: high ball, high ball, waist-high strike, waist-high single. I know that’s only four pitches, but uh-oh.
7:24 p.m. Kent throws a double-play turn-and-throw into Mexico. He shouldn’t rush plays like that, he might fall and break his hip.
7:26 p.m. Nevermind that earlier thing about Kershaw, he placed strike three to Brian Giles right on the corner and caught ‘im lookin’
7:28 p.m. Kershaw walks Gonzalez to face Kouz, let’s see if this pays off.
7:30 p.m. Kershaw strikes Kouz out swinging. Blew it right by him, though Martin wanted it high (like, above his head) and Kershaw put it at Kouz’s waist, inside. It wasn’t where it was supposed to be (I think?), but hey, it was strike three and the inning is over.
Dodgers up 1-0 after one inning.
7:32 p.m. Greg Maddux really does field his position well.
Maddux gets the Dodgers 1-2-3, two ground outs and a strike out. Can’t argue with that.
7:40 p.m. Huber gets a single off Kershaw. Justin Huber. I like to think I know a lot about baseball, but I have no idea who Justin Huber is.
7:41 p.m. Kershaw throws a beautiful curve at 71 m.p.h. I get the feeling the slower it goes, the prettier the pitch.
7:45 p.m. Brian Giles is a terrible outfielder. The dude had to make a sliding catch on a ball that was hit roughly 15 feet away from him. Well, OK, it was a line drive, but still!
7:49 p.m. Woof. That was an almost bomb by Scott Hairston, luckily it went foul. He pops up the following pitch.
7:52 p.m. Edgar Gonzalez sat back on that curve and fouled it off. I wonder what a better hitter would have done with that.
7:54 p.m. I hope that passed ball is that and not a wild pitch. Martin didn’t get his body in front of that at all, pretty bad for a guy who’s a decent fielding catcher.
It’s a wild pitch. Sigh.
7:56 p.m. Adrian Gonzalez’s ground ball gets under Kent’s glove because he has no range, big surprise. Run scores, game is tied.
8:00 p.m. Kershaw decides that if his teammates can’t field the ball, he’s going to do it himself. Strikes out Kouz again.
8:02 p.m. Kershaw gets Greene to fly out. Awesome job by Kershaw to get out of the inning.
Tie game, 1-1, into the fourth.
8:05 p.m. Aflac trivia question: Three active players were playing before Kershaw was born, Maddux was one of the other one. Guesses: Maddux, Johnson and Griffey Jr.
8:06 p.m. Martin and Loney, back-to-back singles and Kemp at bat with no outs? This looks promising.
8:07 p.m. Oh that’s such bull! Kemp line drives it back to the mound and somehow Maddux gets his glove on that? AND doubles up Loney at first?
Frustrating.
Dewitt grounds out for the third out. No one’s fault really, had that been any other pitcher in the league that’s a run and runners on first and third with no outs. Unfortunately, it was Maddux. Though Loney’s base running could use a little work.
8:13 p.m. Aflac trivia question answer: Jamie Moyer and Tom Glavine. I guess I know nothing.
8:14 p.m. Kershaw making short work after the longer inning.
He made 31 pitches last inning. 62 pitches overall, not including the four so far this inning. Maddux is fighting off.
Kershaw strikes him out? Did he swing? Nine pitches for Kershaw in the inning, nonetheless.
8:17 p.m. Berroa singles … this game is kinda weird.
8:18 p.m. Niiiiiice sac bunt by Kershaw.
8:21 p.m. Jeeeeez, 53 pitches so far for Maddux? 23 in the first, then 8, 6, 8, 8 in order.
He’s still got it sometimes.
8:23 p.m. Kent flies out to first on the first pitch with runners on first and third. Effort.
8:25 p.m. Hairston sits on the curveball and gets a single. Hmm. …
8:27 p.m. … and then is picked off.
8: 31 p.m. Kershaw K’s Gonzalez, that’s five for Kersshaw.
(Lakers up by 5 in the third quarter).
8:38 p.m. Loney out by A MILE at the plate. To be fair to Bowa, Hairston needed to put that pretty close to home and he put it right on the money.
Middle of sixth, tied 1-1
Hold on a second, my vIsion is a little spotty and my head is aching.
OK, suffering from a migraine. I’ll be going to bed. Looks like the Dodgers are up 5-2 thanks to a single by Martin … let’s see if they can hold on to win it.
Yours faithfully,
Seth
