John Grabow got the win, he's 6-3. Scott Elbert took the loss, he's 0-1.
Dodger pitching was not good... Chad Billingsley had his worst start of the season. He went only 4.2 innings, giving up seven runs (six earned) on two walks and eight hits (two homeruns, including a grand slam). Joe Beimel came in and got out of the inning by striking out the next batter. Scott Proctor looked good, pitching the next 1.2, striking out three. A combination of three different pitchers (including Scott Elbert, who took the loss) then proceeded to give up eight runs before finally recording one out. James McDonald made his major league debut, and was impressive. He pitched a perfect 8th, striking out two.What will be lost in what was an awful pitching performance, was that the Dodgers weren't bad offensively today. They collected eight runs on 19 hits and three walks. Russell Martin went 3-5 with a double and three RBIs. Matt Kemp went 4-5 with a run scored. Pablo Ozuna went 3-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Finally, Nomar Garciaparra went 2-3 with a double, an RBI, and a run scored before hurting his knee in the 5th inning and being forced to come out of the game.
The Diamondbacks are currently beating the Giants 7-3 after six innings. With the loss, the Dodgers' lead is currently three games. They'll try to go for the series win tomorrow, starting at 9:35 L.A. time.Also: With the loss, the Dodgers fall back to six games over .500 (79-73).
Opinion: So... that was interesting... You know what the most amazing thing about this game was? The Pirates scored 14 (THAT'S RIGHT, 14!) of the 15 runs with two outs. Can we get a third out, please?!? I guess you can't expect those kind of numbers every night, but really, nobody could get a popout or something? Come on... The hitting, though the Dodgers did manage eight runs, still surprises me. Normally when you see 19 in the "Hit" column, you see more then eight in the "Run" column. Not that it matters, because, normally, when you 15 in the opponents' "Run" column, you just take the loss and move on... As a manager in professional baseball, you really ride a roller coaster of looking like a total genius to a clueless moron. Joe Torre chose to start Pablo Ozuna and Nomar Garciaparra, and they rewarded him (3-4 and 2-3 respectively). Then, Torre chose to put in Scott Proctor. He was dominating in his 1.2 innings. Then, with a lefty coming up, Torre chose to take out the hot Proctor and bring in lefty Scott Elbert to get the third out. At this point, the score was tied, 7-7. Eight runs and 10 batters later, that out was finally recorded...
Look, I'll say this, I really like Nomar Garciaparra. I still remember his excellent year in 2006 when he was incredibly clutch for us. I really want him to be a part of this playoff team. That said, he looked really bad trying to stop after rounding 3rd base in the 5th inning. There have been no reports yet, but if I had to put money on it, I'd put a small amount on Nomar Garciaparra going on the DL. Nomar is going to be a free agent after this season. ...Nomar, I love you man, but if this knee injury is as serious as it probably is, it might be time to call it a day. I guess we'll see when the report on his leg comes out, but again, I guessing it's not pretty... Ok, that's enough for now, but really, what a weird day. Let it go and move on, it'll make you crazy if you think about it too much.EDIT: The Giants tried but couldn't complete a comeback against the Diamondbacks, so with their win, the pull back within 3.5 games of the Dodgers in the NL West. I guess what I said yesterday about predictions might be right. But then again, my prediction about me making a prediction seems to be turning out right... so... 1-2???
