MVN - Most Valuable Network

Dodgers Win Eighth Straight Behind Loney’s Six RBI

Another great game tonight, but first my best wishes go out to Tommy Lasorda. Apparently Lasorda cut short his trip to the Dominican Republic because of a minor ailment and spent two days in the hospital. They say he is home and okay. We hope you’re feeling better, Tommy.

Well, it was definitely another exciting game in Colorado. Luckily, it was a lot warmer than the first game of the series.

The Dodgers took an early 6-0 lead, which Esteban Loaiza just about wasted, giving up five runs in 2 1/3 innings of work.

The sixth run was credited to Hong-Chih Kuo, but except for the homerun he allowed in his first pitch to Brad Hawpe, he was very good in his 3 2/3 innings. Besides the homer, he allowed only two hits and no runs while striking out five. Kuo was efficient too, throwing 32 off 44 pitches for strikes.

But this was James Loney’s night. He had gone just 1-14 so far on the road trip. He turned it all around with a 2-for-5 night that featured a three-run double in the first and a three-run homerun in the fifth to give the Dodgers the lead for good.

Besides his offense, Loney has also been very good with the glove. It’s something that so often goes unnoticed, but he is so good at digging the ball out of the dirt on throws to first. Loney makes it look easy, which goes to show just how good a defensive first baseman he is.

And now it’s time for me to once again say that for all the time I devote to bashing Juan Pierre, the guy is playing some great baseball. Then again, anyone playing in the same outfield as Andruw Jones would look good.

But seriously, Pierre has played great the last couple of games. He’s raised his average to .313, but more importantly for him his on-base percentage is up to .389. Along with Furcal, he’s been a great catalyst to the offense. His drag bunt in the first inning that advanced Furcal to second and would eventually help the Dodgers get four first-inning runs was a thing of beauty. Being able to bunt a ball over the third baseman’s head is not easy.

Pierre has also stolen nine of ten bases this season, which is good for the fourth most steals in the National League. And I’ve got to give him a lot of credit on that ninth inning catch of Todd Helton’s ball that might have gone for a homerun. It was hard to tell at the stadium and still inconclusive on replay, but I think it had a good shot to go.

Pierre deserves to be playing. So does Matt Kemp, who went 2-for-3 on the night and is batting .327. And it’s also hard to argue with Andre Either’s stellar play this year.

Then there’s Andruw Jones. He did hit a ball pretty well in the eighth, which Garrett Atkins made a nice play on to end the inning. But he still went 1-for-5 for the second consecutive night and struck out twice.

There was also that play in the bottom of the ninth when Clint Barmes stroked a ball to center and it looked like Jones was going to make one of his classic catches that have earned him ten straight gold gloves.

But then he didn’t. Instead the ball hit his glove and bounced out. He was about a half-inch from making a great play. Don’t get me wrong, it was an extremely tough catch to make, but I think it’s one he would have made one or two years ago. It’s also part of the reason he’s getting paid $18 million a year. With all that extra weight, he looks noticeably slower.

And I didn’t just notice it on that play, but also in the top of the fifth when Jones was on first and Gary Bennett grounded into a double play. I’m not saying Jones should have made it to first, but watching him truck it from first to second was near painful. He just doesn’t look anything like the player he used to be.

It was surprising to see Martin start at third for the second consecutive night. Torre said that he feels comfortable with Martin playing some third and that it also gives Gary Bennett a chance for some at-bats.

I don’t really understand why he wants to sit DeWitt against lefties. He’s batting .385 against left-handers and only .200 against right-handers. I know he did a bad job in the first game of the series, but from what we’ve seen from DeWitt the rest of the season he is a very good defensive third baseman.

Bennett is not a bad defensive catcher, but he’s not a very good hitter and Martin is one of the best backstops in the game. Again, if Torre wants to give Martin some rest I understand, but otherwise it just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.

Jonathan Broxton was perfect in his first appearance after sitting five games with a strained side muscle.

Takashi Saito wasn’t as good. He only allowed one hit in his inning of work, but the Rockies hit some balls very well off of him.

Andy LaRoche has been officially sent to the minors. After hitting .318 in six games of rehab for Double-A Jacksonville and .154 in five games for Triple-A Las Vegas, LaRoche is now off the disabled list and was optioned to Vegas. I guess DeWitt will remain at third base for a while longer.

It was another tough night for the Dodger’s fifth starter, who at the moment is Esteban Loaiza. The Dodgers won’t need another start from the fifth starter spot until May 17. Could that be the time for Clayton Kershaw?

On the bump on Sunday we’ll have Derek Lowe (2-1, 2.88) against Aaron Cook (4-1, 2.41). Sapiro has flaked out on me so he can watch the Lakers game, but I’ll be back at Coors on Sunday to watch the Dodgers go for nine in a row and a third straight sweep.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 at 11:35 pm and is filed under Clayton Kershaw, Nomar Garciapara, Tommy Lasorda, Matt Kemp, Esteban Loaiza, aaron sapiro, nate edelstein, nathaniel edelstein, Blake DeWitt, Gary Bennett, James Loney, Andre Ethier, Andruw Jones, Rafael Furcal, Juan Pierre, Andy LaRoche, Dodger Wins, Russell Martin, Jonathon Broxton, Hong-Chih Kuo, Takashi Saito, Derek Lowe, Joe Torre. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.