Results tagged ‘ baseball ’
Dodgers’ Hanley Ramirez gets thumb MRI
The Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez get an MRI on his thumb, due to injury suffered in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) championship game on Tuesday.
Dodgers dominate Reds and take Series
After a rocky series, the Dodgers found a way to defeat the Cincinnati Reds in dominate fashion 4-1, and regained first place in the NL West thanks to superb pitching and timely hitting. The Dodgers took two out of three against the Big Red Machine, and in the last two games held them to scoring no more than two runs.
Dodger starter Aaron Harang started off sharp against his former team, and display solid control of his pitches.
The Dodger offense stepped up in the first inning against Reds starter Mike Leake, Luis Cruz with Dee Gordon on base, smacked a single to shallow right field that gave the Dodgers the 1-0 lead. Later on in the inning first baseman James Loney hit an RBI single that scored Cruz and advanced Bobby Abreu to second base.
Adam Kennedy grounded out towards first base, Loney was caught out at second base, and Abreu made it to third base. He then continued on to score, thanks to an error thrown play by Reds shortstop Zack Cozart, that gave the Dodgers the 3-0 lead.
Harang continued his superb pitching until the top of the 5th inning, where Devin Mesoraco hit a home run to deep left that put the Reds on the scoreboard, yet they still trailed 3-1.
The Dodgers continued to show the Reds why they were an offensive juggernaut, as Reds reliever Bill Bray made a costly mistake by walking Gordon and allowed him on base. Gordon eventually stole second base. As Cruz was also walked, Gordon took the initiative and stole third base successfully, yet ended up dislocating his right thumb. Gordon stole his 30th base on the season.
Mark Ellis came in to run for Gordon at third base, and Juan Rivera grounded out which caused Ellis to be tagged out at home plate.
Later on in the inning, with the bases loaded as the crowd rose to their feet, Adam Kennedy smacked a sacrifice fly to center, that allowed Cruz to speed home to score.
Dodgers reliever Ronald Belisario pitched a scoreless eighth inning, lowering his ERA to a National League best 0.99, which paved the way for a spectacular ninth inning finish.
In the ninth inning it was Jensen time, as closer Kenley Jensen struck out both All-Star Joey Votto and second baseman Brandon Phillips. With two outs and nobody on base, Jensen got Jay Bruce to pop out to left field to end the game as the Dodgers defeat the Reds 4-1.
The Dodgers snapped their streak of four straight series loses. They hadn’t won a series since they played the Chicago White Sox back on June 15-17, and hadn’t won two out of three in a series since they took on the Seattle Mariners back in early June.
Good news for the Dodgers as they returned to their winning ways, and because the San Francisco Giants lost to the Nationals in Washington 9-4, that automatically moved the Dodgers back into first place in the NL West by 1/2 game.
Losing Reds pitcher Mike Leake talked about his rocky start, “I wasn’t quite loose. I probably should have thrown a few extra pitches in the bullpen. I was helping them out leaving balls over the middle and not really locating it too well.”
Dodgers victorious starter Aaron Harang spoke about his superb performance. “I felt like I had control of the game, was never really in a situation where I was pitching out of jams except for maybe the third inning when I got runners on first and third with two outs. Other than that I felt like I was doing what I needed to do, pounding the strike zone and getting myself ahead.”
Harang (6-5) pitched seven strong innings, with three hits and five strikeouts, while Leake (3-6) pitched seven innings, with six hits, five strikeouts, and two earned runs.
Gordon spoke about his injured thumb, “It felt like I hit something really hard and as soon as I got up I knew I jammed it. That’s never happened before. I get stepped on every now and then.”
Dee Gordon is scheduled to have an MRI on his thumb on Thursday, when leaving the stadium Gordon’s thumb was wrapped in a splint.
*Andre Either has been placed on the 15-day DL due to an oblique injury.
Dodgers Get Blasted by A’s
A’s pitcher Brandon McCarthy
The Los Angeles Dodgers still elated from that great extra inning come from behind win against the AL Central leading Chicago White Sox, must now focus on the Oakland A’s. After a much deserved day off, the Dodgers continue to face another team from the American League.
On the mound Tuesday night Aaron Harang pitched for Dodgers and Brandon McCarthy for the Oakland A’s who came off of 11 days rest.
McCarthy was so excited to take the mound that he almost hyperventilated, but maintained his composer, even with his shoulder injury.
McCarthy started out sharp as he took care of the first three Dodger batters in the line up in the first inning.
On the other side of the ball Harang began terribly with two on, Seth Smith singled to center, as outfielder Tony Gwynn was unable to make the grab. Coco Crisp and Jemile Weeks scored that gave the A’s the quick 2-0 lead. With Smith on third base, slugger Jonny Gomes hit an RBI single to left that scored Smith and the A’s made sure they took matters in their own hands offensively against the best team in baseball.
McCarthy continued to pitch masterfully as the Dodgers offensive remained stagnant throughout the night, blowing opportunity after opportunity to score. The Dodgers made McCarthy look like a Cy Young candidate, which was absolutely mystifying after their great run just 48 hours earlier at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers also maintained their defense by not allowing any further runs by the A’s, but it proved that defense didn’t matter if the team was unable to score runs when called upon.
However in typical Dodger fashion, they had one last chance in the ninth inning. A’s closer Ryan Cook struck out Elian Herrera, and Andre Either made safe to first base thanks to an error made by Coco Crisp. Cook seemed to struggle as he walked Bobby Abreu. With Either and Abreu at second and first base, James Loney presented the tying run. Loney grounded into a double that got Abreu out at second and Loney at first base to end the game.
A’s winning pitcher Brandon McCarthy spoke about his mindset entering the game, “after the first couple innings I kind of got back feeling normal. Early, amped up and kind of short of breath. I don’t know what was going on. That felt kind of weird, but I was ready.”
McCarthy had a great outing, pitched seven strong innings, with two hits on five strikeouts. McCarthy out pitched Dodger starter Aaron Harang who pitched three and two-thirds innings with six strikeouts, and three earned runs.
“Things weren’t right, and they were being patient and fouling off good pitches, racking up my pitch count. Of course the walks didn’t help,” said Aaron Harang.
*Dodgers OF Matt Kemp is scheduled to return after the All-Star break, and Dodger pitcher Ted Lilly is close to throwing again as recovers from shoulder inflammation.
Dodger manager Don Mattingly said he will discuss with Kemp if he’ll play in this year All-Star Game in Kansas City. Kemp is the NL’s leading vote getter with almost 2 million votes by the fans.
Dodgers outlast White Sox
After dropping two out of the three games to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and had a much needed day off, the Los Angeles Dodgers looked to return to their winning ways against the Chicago White Sox.
This was scheduled to be a pitcher’s duel between Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw and the White Sox starter Chris Sale. However this game was far from it, with one on base, Adam Dunn arrived at the plate with a .667 lifetime batting average verses Kershaw, and Dunn made Kershaw pay hitting a two run homer deep to right field.
The Dodgers began to turn on their offense against Chris Sale, after a walk to Dee Gordon, Elian Herrera hit a double deep to center field that scored Gordon.
Kershaw continued to struggle as the innings progressed, and once again continued to keep the White Sox offense sharp by walking Dunn. Thanks to a wild pitch, Dunn advanced to second base. Paul Konerko made him pay by hitting an RBI single that scored Dunn to place distance away from the Dodgers. Fortunately AJ Pierzynski struck out and Kershaw got out of the third inning without any further damage.
The Dodgers offense remained sluggish as the White Sox offense continued to soar, in the fourth inning former Dodger Orlando Hudson reached on an infield single that scored A Ramirez. The disorganization from the Dodgers didn’t stop as Hudson made it second base because of a throwing error by Dee Gordon.
The mistakes, bad pitching, and inconsistant play mounted up for the Dodgers in the fifth inning as Alex Rios slugged a huge home run to left, that gave the White Sox the 5-1 lead.
For some reason many could sense a rally coming from this Dodger team who have made that a reality many times this season. In the sixth inning, the Dodger bats woke up with two on, Juan Uribe doubled to left that allowed Jerry Hairston Jr. to score, and advanced AJ Ellis to third base. Ivan De Jesus who came in to pinch hit for Kershaw, singled to right that scored Ellis and moved Uribe to third base. With runners on the corners, Herrera hit a clutch double to right that scored Uribe and De Jesus. The Dodgers seem to have found their rhythm as Juan Rivera stepped up and hit a big single that scored Herrera and gave the Dodgers the 6-5 lead.
In the eight inning the White Sox were not ready to be counted out as once Alex Rios smacked another home run this time off of reliever Ronald Belisario. Belisario made it out of the inning by getting Hudson to ground out to first base.
The Dodgers remained poised and refused to quit as first baseman James Loney singled to left that put the winning run on board. After Gordon walked, Herrera grounded into a fielder’s choice to shortstop that got Gordon out at second base. With two out, Loney capitalized and scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch by reliever Matt Thornton, that allowed Herrera to move to third. Thornton struck out Bobby Abreu who pinched hit for Belisario to end the inning.
Closer Kensley Jensen put on his best performance as he easily retired batters, and struck out Gordon Beckham for the final out as the Dodgers held on to defeat the White Sox 7-6 in a rocky come from behind win.
Not happy with his performance Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw talked about his performance, “baseball goes in cycles and it has its ups and downs. I mean, this game’s not easy. Just because you had a couple of good starts, this game will continue to humble you. So you’ve just got to keep battling and competing.”
Kershaw finished with five runs, four earned and eight hits over six innings with seven strikeouts. Belisario picked up his second win of the season and Jensen collected his eleventh save on the year.
White Sox slugger Adam Dunn spoke about the Dodger comeback “Usually when we’ve had Sale on the mound, we’re in pretty good shape. But they battled and just beat us.”
Sale finished with five runs, seven hits and a season high four walks in five innings of work. Sale has not allowed more than three runs in any of his previous eleven starts.
A disappointed AJ Pierzynski also commented on Sale’s performance, “you feel good with him on the mound and a 5-1 lead in the sixth inning with the way he’s been throwing, but tonight he just didn’t get it done!”
The Dodgers maintain the league’s best record at 41-25 so far on the season and remain five games ahead of the rival San Francisco Giants in the NL West.
Dodgers Rally Past Angels in Freeway Series
Coming off a disappointing loss on Monday night against their neighbors from the south the Los Angeles of Anaheim, the Dodger looked to regroup for Southern California supremacy.
Dodger starter Aaron Harang took the mound to battle against Angels starter Jerome Williams.
Both Harang and Williams pitched superb, it was duel to see who would give up the first score it seemed. However Harang would lose that battle in the third inning, after walking outfielder Torii Hunter, slugger Albert Pujols hit a slicing single to left to load the bases. Harang looked confident to get out of the inning, until a throwing error commited by Adam Kennedy that allowed Kendrys Morales to be safe at first base, that caused Williams to score.
The Dodgers continued to struggle offensively until the bottom of the fourth inning, when Andre Either fresh off his new $85 million dollar, five year extention contract. launched a single deep to right field that advanced AJ Ellis to third base. With runners on the corners, a healthy Juan Rivera hit a single to left that scored Ellis, to tie the game 1-1. Williams ended the inning by with Adam Kennedy who grounded out into a double play that got Rivera out at second base.
The Angels with two on in the bottom of the sixth inning, Harang got Maicer Izturis to fly out to left, and struck out Erick Aybar. Williams hit into a ground field out to second, however thanks to an error committed by Dodger shortstop Dee Gordon, Morales came in to score. Harang maintained his poise and focus, with two out and two on base he managed to strike out Mark Trumbo to end the inning.
Williams continued his superb pitching well into the bottom of the eight inning. Fatigue seems to begin to take it toll on Williams, as the Dodger put together a masterful rally. With second baseman Elian Herrera on first base, Gordon hit into a ground play near first that managed to get Herrera out at second base. The speedy Gordon stole second base. Next up Either, who proved he wasn’t done for the night, hitting a clutch single that scored Gordon and advanced Ellis to third base. Either picked up his 500th career RBI in the process. Once again the Dodgers had runners in scoring position, and with a very energetic crowd behind them, it was time for Juan Rivera to make something happen. Just before Rivera came to the plate Angels pitching coach Mike Butcher visited the mound to make sure Williams was able to continue. Rivera made Williams pay as he connected on his 102nd pitch a three run homer deep to left that gave the Dodgers the huge 5-2.
That would be Williams final pitch for the night as Angels manager Mike Scisocia decided to call up reliever Jordan Walden to the mound.
In the ninth inning, replacing Jamey Wright who pitched a perfect eight inning, would be the faithful closer Kenley Jansen. Jansen struck out both Mike Trout and Torii Hunter. Jansen settled down and focused as he got Pujols to fly out to center, and waited for Tony Gywnn Jr to make a great catch near the wall to end the game.
Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen recorded his tenth save on the year, Jamey Wright picked up the victory (3-2), while Jerome Williams who received the loss fell to (6-4) on the season. Aaron Harang gave up two unearned runs, six hits in seven innings, with five strikeouts and four walks.
Angels manager Mike Scioscia argued a call that umpire Joe West made calling Dee Gordon safe. According the replay it looked as though the throw from Angels catcher Hank Conger beat Gordon. Of course Scioscia loss the case on his bobblehead night against his former team. “Joe said he was safe. He said he saw his hand get in there,” said Scioscia. “I don’t need to see a replay. I thought he was out.”
Andre Either talked about his clutch hit in the eight inning, “I was focused on the task at hand, having the same good approach and the same good swing. When you focus on that instead of the outcome, good things happen.”
*The Freeway series concludes on Wednesday night, and a special treat to fans before the first pitch members of the Los Angeles Kings will throw out the ceremonial first pitch and showcase the newly acquired Stanley Cup.
Harang Stops Dodgers Losing Skid
All throughout the Los Angeles Dodger clubhouse, relieve can be heard as the Dodgers snap their biggest losing streak of the season.
The Dodgers would not make the mistake of having a slow offensive start this game, as slugger Andre Either hit an RBI single off Rockies pitcher Juan Nicasio that scored Tony Gywnn Jr.
In the bottom of the same inning Aaron Harang gave up a triple to Dexter Fowler. With two outs, Michael Cuddyer connected on a double deep to right field that scored Dexter Fowler for the 1-1 tied score.
Gywnn grounded into fielder choice at first base in the second inning, and AJ Ellis made a run for home but was tagged out. After Gywnn stole second base, Elian Herrera singled to center, Dee Gordon and Gywnn both scored. After that, Rockies manager Jim Tracy decided to seek another route and send in reliever Josh Roenicke for Nicasio.
Harang pitched masterfully the next few inning along with the Dodgers defense stepped up majorly that gave Harang the confidence and support he needed in this anti-pitcher ballpark. In the fourth with the bases loaded, Roenicke walked Either, which scored Gwynn. Fortunately for Roenicke who got Adam Kennedy to fly out to center to end the inning.
The Dodgers were far from done offensively when Rockies reliever Matt Reynolds with two out, gave up a deep home run to Bobby Abreu. That was Abreu’s first home run as Dodger this season. Later on Either doubled to deep right, then Adam Kennedy hit a single to right that scored Either, as the Dodgers continued to dominate 6-1.
Harang had a great outing, and was relieved by Javey Guerra in the bottom of the seventh inning. DJ LeMahieu connected on a single to shallow center, which paved the way for Wilin Rosario who hit a double to deep right center that scored LeMahieu.
The Rockies silenced the Rockies offense, as Dodgers closer Kenley Jensen wrapped up the victory by getting Rosario flying out to left to end the Dodgers losing streak.
Aaron Harang who faced quite a few tense moments, however he was determined and pulled out the victory. Harang pitched 6 strong innings, four hits, on six strikeouts.
Juan Nicasio allowed three runs and four hits in 1 2/3 innings of work.
Harang talked about this outing as opposed to the last against Milwaukee, ” “I feel like I started the losing streak so I wanted to shut the door and finish it so we could start over fresh.”
“We’ve been getting our hits during the losing streak, we were just able to get some key hits to get some runs there today,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said.
*Dodgers OF Juan Rivera who had been on the DL, will rejoin the team when they take on the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday.
Kershaw Keeps Arizona Beneth Them Without Kemp
On a night where it seems that the Los Angeles Dodgers were facing the biggest rival health with their players that included Juan Rivera and now Matt Kemp.
Kemp was placed on the 15 day DL, Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers would have to continue to fight without their premier warrior.
On the other side of the ball, Arizona D-backs pitcher and 2011 Cy Young runner up Ian Kennedy had something to prove against Kershaw, and to remind him how he never forgot how he should’ve won that prestigious award.
Kershaw got out of the first inning rather quickly making way for the Dodger bats to light up hard and fast, as the speedy Dee Gordon singled to left, and thanks to a throwing error by Kennedy, Gordon made it safe to third base. Mark Ellis grounded out to second, but it allowed Gordon to score as the Dodgers took the lead 1-0.
For the next several innings Kershaw was masterful, showing Kennedy and others why he was the Cy Young winner and still a force to be reckoned with on the mound. Frustrating Arizona batters, Kershaw was virtually untouchable, and so was the Dodger offense in the bottom of the sixth inning, Andre Either smacked a solo home run to right center, as Kennedy watched and pounded his glove in disgust. Catcher AJ Ellis singled to center, then James Loney singled that advanced Ellis to third base.
Adam Kennedy stepped up and hit a key sacrifice fly to center that scored Ellis.
Kennedy threw a pitch behind Kershaw and to the backstop before he walked. Kershaw returned the favor in the fifth inning, making Kennedy bail out of the batter’s box on a first-pitch fastball before he walked him.
After pitching seven strong innings, Josh Lindblom relieved Clayton Kershaw who left the field amongst cheers and applause from the Dodger Stadium crowd.
Lindblom was pretty solid, until he gave up a solo home run to Arizona’s Aaron Hill deep to left field that would prove to be the D-backs only run of the game. Lindblom settled down and go out of the inning with any further damage.
Kenley Jensen came in for Lindblom to close out the game, and did an exceptional job, especially getting R Roberts to pop out at first base to end the game, as the Dodgers defeated the D-backs 3-1. Jensen picked up his fourth save in five attempts on the season.
Matt Kemp talked about how he felt about not playing “I’m disappointed. This is my second time being on the DL, and the first time was a long time ago [April 2007]. I like playing every game, but I’ve got to be healthy and playing at 100 percent for me to be effective. So I’ve got to let it heal.”
Kemp is still on course for his goal of 50/50, and should win the NL MVP award this season, as he’ll continue to play at a high level once he returns from injury.
Kershaw talked about the warning by Umpire after the incident between him and Kennedy, “Old-school baseball’s one thing, and I understand what the manager’s trying to instill over there, but there’s no place for that here. It’s obvious what they were trying to do, but I don’t agree with what they did. It just felt wrong. He’s a good pitcher, he had an awesome year last year and I have a lot of respect for what he does on the hill. But if that’s how they want to do it, that’s fine. He missed anyway, so no big deal.”
Billingsley And Dodgers Get Snake Bitten By D-backs
Tuesday night did not prove well for the Dodgers as they placed both their potential NL MVP Matt Kemp on the 15 day DL and Juan Uribe for a wrist injury. Chad Billingsley had the tall task of continuing the home streak at Dodgers Stadium against Wade Miley and the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Billingsley looked pretty well on the mound until the second inning with the bases loaded and two outs, Gerardo Parra walked that scored Jason Kubel and advanced A Hill to third base. Billingsley got Willie Bloomquist to fly out to center to end the inning.
Miley continued to pitch solid, and the Diamondback offense made sure they gave him plenty of run support, unfortunately at the expense of Billingsley where Arizona exploded in the fifth inning. Bloomquist singled to left, that moved Wade Miley to third base. Justin Upton reached on infield single to shortstop that scored pitcher Wade Miley, Bloomquist and Parra moved to third and second base respectfully. Then Miguel Montero singled to center, which scored Parra, and Dodger manager Don Mattingly had obviously seen enough. He retired Billingsley for the evening and sent in Javy Guerra, which didn’t cool off the D-back bats, as Kubel hit an RBI single to right field, that scored Bloomquist.
D-backs Wade Miley
It wasn’t until the sixth inning that the Dodgers finally got on the board, as Mark Ellis hit a solo home run deep to center scoring what would end up being their only run scored. The Dodgers defense did make a showing as outfielder Andre Either made a spectacular diving catch to rob Upton of a hit.
However in the top of the seventh the D-backs weren’t done scoring either Lyle Overbay hit a big sacrifice fly to left field, that scored Montero to increase the lead 5-1. Arizona came into the game 6-for-30 in bases-loaded situations.
Arizona closer JJ Putz came in for reliever David Hernandez after he allowed Adam Kennedy to double to right field, setting up Dee Gordon. With two outs, Putz got Gorden to foul out to the catcher for the final out and captured the victory over the Dodgers.
Arizona manager Kirk Gibson spoke about his solid pitcher Wade Miley “He just did a great job for us, and that’s what we needed tonight. He had 72 strikes out of 102 pitches. He maybe started laboring a little bit later in the game, but it was big for him to get as far as he did for us. That’s how he’s been pitching all year.”
Chad Billingsley went four innings, eight hits and three strike out and hasn’t picked up a win since that Astros 12-0 blowout in Houston. Wade Miley pitched six and two-third strong innings allowed eight hits, five strikeouts, and one home run.
The Dodgers are currently 24-12 and still lead the rival San Francisco Giants by six game in the NL West division.
*1988 Dodgers Cy Young Award winner and World Series MVP Orel Hershiser threw out a ceremonial first pitch at Dodger Stadium, as it was also Hershiser bobble head night.
*Scott Van Slyke son of former MLB slugger Andy Van Slyke, made his debut in the starting line up for the first time on Tuesday night.
Orel Hershiser, Tommy Lasorda, Clayton Kershaw
Dodgers Avenge Loss Against Giants
After disappointing 2-1 loss yesterday at Dodger Stadium against their hated rivals the San Francisco Giants, the Dodgers looked to regroup and get aboard their first place winning ways.
On Wednesday Giants Tim Lincecum looked to do battle not against his nemesis Clayton Kershaw, but against Chad Billingsley. Billingsley looked sharp early, until he faced rival pitcher Tim Lincecum who hit a single to help his own cause that scored Joaquin Arias.
Buster Posey RBI single in the third inning extended the Giants’ lead to 2-0.
It wasn’t long until the Dodgers got on board thanks to Bobby Abreu who singled to advance Andre Either to third base. Later Juan Uribe reached out on an infield single that scored Either. In that same inning Tony Gywnn Jr pinched hit for Billingsley, who tripled to right, Abreu, Uribe, and AJ Ellis all score to help the Dodgers take the lead 4-2.
The Dodgers offense didn’t quit in the sixth inning, catcher AJ Ellis tripled to deep center to get on base in scoring position. Scott Van Slyke (son of Pirate great Andy Van Slyke) came in to pinch hit for pitcher Jamey Wright. Van Slyke hit a huge single that scored Ellis.
In the eight inning Uribe showed up again as he doubled to deep center, and with a man on base, James Loney hit an RBI single to left that scored Uribe. With the bases loaded Giants manager Bruce Bouchy decided a change was necessary and Steve Edlefsen relieved Clay Hensley. A very smart move because with Matt Kemp at the plate, Kemp grounded out to shortstop which caused Adam Kennedy to be called out to end the inning.
Kensley Jansen came in to close out the ninth inning, and after walking Gregor Blanco, settled down and for the final out to strike out catcher Buster Posey swinging.
Chad Billingsley lasted just four innings, allowing two runs and seven hits while striking out five and walking four.
Tim Lincecum gave up four runs, eight hits in five innings with eight strike outs.
Dodger reliever Jamey Wright pitched two superb innings and with two strike outs to pick up the victory.
*Dodgers OF/1B Juan Rivera was placed on the 15-day DL due to a significant strained left hamstring, Dodger manager Don Mattingly said earlier he expected Rivera to be out more than two weeks.
Dodgers Dominate As Lilly Outpitches Zito
Under a new regime and fresh off a not so good road trip, home is always where the heart is and for the Los Angeles Dodgers it was a much needed change of pace. It’s official, the Dodgers have new ownership that consist of Mark Walter, Stan Kasten and Earvin “Magic” Johnson” to guide the Dodgers back to their winning tradition.
On hand to throw out the first pitch was Dodger great Don Newcombe, who was hugged by outfielder and current Dodger Matt Kemp, and greeted by Rachel Robinson widow of Dodger great Jackie Robinson and new owner Magic Johnson. Johnson also made the first call “its time for Dodger baseball” to all of the fans who cheered.
Another great thing for fans to enjoy officially was the new lower parking prices at Dodger Stadium, and their Dodgers certainly put on a clinic against the hated rival San Francisco Giants.
Ted Lilly and Barry Zitto were determined not to give either team an opportunity to score, however that changed in the third inning as Mark Ellis doubled to left, and Matt Kemp was intentionally walked. The Andre Either walked which moved Ellis to third base and Kemp to second. Juan Rivera grounded out yet Ellis still scored.
Top of the sixth inning Miguel Cabrera moved to third base on a wild pitch by Lilly, then Joaquin Arias singled to right center which scored Cabrera.
In the bottom of the sixth inning Bobby Abreu hit an infield single to third, then catcher AJ Ellis doubled to deep right that scored Abreu and moved Juan Uribe to the third. Tony Gywnn Jr pinched hit for Ted Lilly who reached on a bunt single to third, and Uribe scored because of throwing error by Giants third baseman Conor Gillaspie.
Giants reliever Steve Edlefsen came into for Barry Zito, which didn’t stop Kemp who doubled to right. Rivera grounded into a fielder’s choice to the pitcher that scored Kemp, however Rivera ran to second thanks to a throwing error by Edlefsen, where the crowd cheered loudly.
Travis Blackley relieved Edlefsen that provided no help as the Dodger owned the eight inning when Dee Gordon reached on bunt single to third, AJ Ellis moved to third and Gwynn moved to second base. With the bases loaded Blackley walked Ellis, AJ Ellis scored, and Gywnn moved to third while Gordon advanced to second. Adam Kennedy pinched hit for Josh Lindblom and connected on a single to right that scored Gywnn, advanced Ellis and Gordon to second and third base. Either then singled to left that scored Gordon and Ellis, which moved Kennedy to second base. Later Rivera grounded out to shortstop but not before Kennedy scored to increase the 9-1 lead over the Giants.
Dodgers reliever Scott Elbert came in to close out the ninth inning getting Ryan Theriot grounded out to shortstop to end the inning.
Matt Kemp spoke about what it meant to see Newcombe and seeing Magic as the new owner “It felt great. I think the fans were pretty excited to see Magic and all those guys sit in the owners’ seats. It was definitely a different atmosphere, Magic’s right by the on-deck circle, so I could probably give him a high-five whenever I want to.”
Ted Lilly (4-0) gave up a run and four hits, walked two, and struck out six, while Barry Zito gave up three runs and eight hits in six innings.
