The One that Got Away
You’ve got to give them credit. Again, shaky defense almost did in the Giants when rookie first baseman Brandon Belt failed to cleanly field a ground ball hit right at him when he had a clear play at the plate, costing the Giants a run in the third inning. But the defending champions fought back and grinded out a well deserved win last night coming back from a 3-0 deficit.
Their hits off of Billingsley were not off mistakes served up by the right hander. They were good pitches. Bills did an excellent job keeping the ball down and Giant hitters went down and hit them. Clutch hits by Posey, Sandoval, Belt and Rowand did in the Dodgers who were able to score three runs off of a flustered Tim Lincecum in the third inning.
Giant relief pitching did a stellar job in mopping up as the bearded duo of Romo and Wilson shut down the Dodger bats in the 8th and 9th to close out the game. Blake Hawksworth took the loss after allowing the go-ahead run in his lone inning of work.
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| Aaron Rowand scores the winning run on a wild pitch delivered by Dodger reliever Blake Hawksworth |
The Dodgers close out the series and eight game home stand tonight with Ted Lilly facing Jonathan Sanchez. A win makes the road trip a relatively successful one with the Dodgers finishing it at .500.
For the first time this season, the Dodgers will face opponents outside of the division as the Cardinals and Braves come into town for four games each.
There Will Be a 7 Footer on the Mound Tomorrow
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar tweets that he’ll be throwing out the first pitch at tomorrow’s game at Dodger Stadium:
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| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar delivers a "hook shot" first pitch at Dodger Stadium in 2008 |
Kareem is a Dodger fan dating back to the days of Brooklyn. With tomorrow being the Lakers tribute, and the purple and gold hat giveaway, it’s appropriate. It’ll be Jackie Robinson Night the following game at Chavez Ravine on Friday. Last year Kareem read a tribute to the greatest Dodger of them all. Jackie Robinson Day never gets old. He is part of our heritage that was the greatest Dodger contributor to the game.
Krukow on Kemp
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| Mike Krukow as a Cub, 1970s photo |
I’m on the road again and while driving to my destination this morning, I had the intriguing pleasure to listen to Giant broadcaster Mike Krukow talk about Matt Kemp. “Up to this point in the season, he’s the best player in the league,” he said. “Kemp is absolutely dialed in. He’s not making the mistakes he made in previous years. You used to be able to get him to chase pitches low and away. He doesn’t do that any more. He’s the real deal, his speed is an extremely dangerous weapon and the Dodgers are in this thing for good. Kemp is a big reason for that. He’s an amazing player,” concluded Krukow. Of course he added, the season is only 11 games old, which is an excellent point.
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| Matt Kemp, "The best player in the league" so far, according to Krukow |
Needless to say, I almost drove my car in a ditch from the shock of hearing him say something positive about a Dodger. Good for you Mike, I know it must have hurt a lot to say what you did.
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Lastly, on the day that Barry Bonds was found guilty of obstruction of justice, and the jury hangs on 3 perjury charges, I can't help but be glad that we'll probably hear the last of Bonds for a while. This story started brewing in 2003. It took eight years to get to a verdict? Talk about anti-climatic.
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