Saturday: Dodgers 9, Rockies 5
Turning Point
After scoring three in the sixth to cut the Dodgers’ lead to 5-3, pinch hitter Dexter Fowler singled and pinch hitter Jeff Baker walked to start the seventh against Guillermo Mota. Left-hander Wil Ohman, a Ponderosa High School graduate relieved Mota. Seth Smith attempted to sacrifice, but his bunt attempt went foul and was caught by third baseman Blake DeWitt. Smith has eight sacrifices in his professional career _ four at high Class A Modesto in 2005, three at Double-A Tulsa in 2006 and one at Triple-A Colorado Springs in 2007. Todd Helton followed Smith, and lined Ohman’s 3-2 pitch to DeWitt. With the runners going on the pitch, Fowler was doubled off second base
At the Plate
Manny Ramirez hit solo homers off Aaron Cook in the first and third. ..,Andre Ethier drove in four runs, hitting a three-run homer off Cook with two out in the fourth after Cook walked Orlando Hudson and a leadoff homer off Alan Embree in what became a four-run seventh. …Chad Billingsley held the Rockies one hit through five innings, a double by Smith in the third on a ball center fielder Matt Kemp lost in the sun. They scored three in the sixth, Billingsley’s final inning, when Brad Hawpe tripled home two runs, and Ian Stewart hit a sacrifice fly. Stewart homered in the eighth off Ohman.
On the Mound
Cook lasted four innings, the second time in three starts he has pitched four or fewer innings, and gave up eight hits and five runs. …Jason Hammel relieved Cook and pitched two scoreless innings in his second Rockies appearance. …LH reliever Embree failed to retire the left-handed hitting Ethier for the second successive game. After Ethier homered, Ramirez walked and Embree left without retiring a batter after a fielding error by second baseman Stewart on a ball hit by James Loney. …Ryan Speier, making his first appearance since Monday, relieved Embree and gave up a run-scoring single to Kemp, a Juan Castro sacrifice fly and a run-scoring single by Ohman for his first career RBI. Speier retired the Dodgers in order in the eighth. The only other time they went down 1-2-3 was against Hammel in the fifth.
Numbers Game
5 home runs allowed in 13 1/3 innings by Aaron Cook, a sinkerball specialist who yielded 13 homers in 211 1/3 innings last year.
Ug. I want to be optimistic — this seems to be a pretty good lineup — but man, I hate losing to the Dodgers. And the Rox haven’t looked too good in the first 10 games this year.
Somehow, someway, Stewart has to be in the lineup at least 5 or 6 times a week. His offensive production is to good to waste sitting on the bench.
Any chance of Spilly sitting for a couple of days to catch his breath? He has really been struggling the past few days.
This team is in sad shape. It has several issues. But knowing this team, non will be addressed, and nothing will be done to fix them, and this team is heading to a 90+ loss season.
Can they avoid finishing last? Not with a team batting average below .250.
Redhawk, you are way too good a student of the game to be so down. That’s troubling.
Remember, the rockies have had three 90 loss seasons in the last 15 years, and two of those came at a time where things were being pieced togehter, waiting for the farm system to produce?
Is this team going to run away with the division? I am not saying that, but I don’t know that the sky is falling, either.
Ten games is 1/16th of a season. This team has kicked away two potential wins and that’s a disappointment, but if you try and make snap judgements after 10 games does that mean you are confident Kansas Cty will win the AL Central? What about Arizona and San Francisco, which got off to worst starts than the Rockies? Look at Cleveland. Is Atlanta going to run away with the NL East? Is Boston a last-place team?
The failures of others, obviously, do not justify the struggles of the Rockies, but the point is if you thought this team was decent on April 7, you should give it a little more time before writing it off.
Cisco, I don’t think it would be fair to put Ian in left field in a park like Dodger Stadium. To be honest, he’s too good of a hitter to have to bounce around. I’d like to see him play a lot more and I’d like to see him play third base because in addition to what he can do with the bat, he is a quality defensive third baseman.
It’s WAY too early to give up on these guys. Whatever issues there are I have no doubt they will be addressed. If the same issues are there by mid-season then that’s a different story.
Thanks for the kind works Tracy.
I’m ok with the starting pitching, it’s fine, not great, but fine. The bullpen needs some tweaking as there are a few out there that don’t belong on an MLB club (Embree, Belisle, Speier), and I don’t like the mix out there at the moment either, but I can see that being worked out (Belisle will be gone Tuesday). Show me an MLB bullpen that doesn’t have a questionable arm or two.
But, I see this offense as REALLY lacking. And I just don’t think they are very talented. There are several players in this line up that just aren’t that good, and certainly not as good as currently valued by local fans, media, and front office. A team can have one or two guys that struggle to hit in a line up…not 6 (and I’m being nice there, I could have said 8). Sometimes a .225 hitter…is really a .225 hitter.
If I could ask one question in a press conference, it would be, “What the heck, happened to spring training? What happened that you did so well there, and so bad just 3 weeks later?”