As quickly as they ran off eight straight wins and 10 of 11, they've suddenly looked abysmal and lost while losing four straight in ugly fashion. All of a sudden the pitching has stunk, the offense has shut down, and their defense has looked like a bunch of little leaguers just learning how to play the game. And to make matters worse, their best player so far this year, Rafael Furcal was just placed on the DL with a bad back, retroactive to last Wednesday.
I suppose the ugliest of the games, although it wasn't really all that ugly, was yesterday's loss to the Astros at home. They had already won the first two games of the series in convincing fashion when Hiroki Kuroda took the mound to hopefully rebound from his horrific start during the week against the Mets. All he did was take a no-hitter into the seventh inning with two outs. He gave a hit to Hunter Pence, then a run, and then he was done. But the Dodgers still had the lead 2-1, and stretched it out to 3-1 in the bottom of the inning. Then it all unraveled. Jonathan Broxton couldn't get anyone out to save his life, and the Astros blew the game open with a 6-run eighth inning and eventually won 8-5.
I guess it just goes to show you what can happen when you lose one important guy in the lineup. It becomes contagious. No knock on Juan Pierre, who hasn't played all that bad when he's gotten the chance to play. But Pierre just doesn't seem to have that same effect on an offense like Raffy does, and it shows. The offense just hasn't been the same since Raffy went down, and it could be another week or so before he's back. So for now, because the Dodgers don't dare set forth with a lineup without a "true" leadoff hitter, Pierre plays and leads off, and Ethier probably sits while Torre allows Andruw more time to figure his swing out at the bottom of the lineup.
The Blue head to Milwaukee for three, and with perfect timing, I suppose, because they won't get a chance to further damage former Dodger Eric Gagne's season as the Brewers closer since he was pulled from that role over the weekend. But the Brewers are struggling themselves, so now would be an ideal time to get going again. After three in Brew Town, they head back to the Southland to face the Halos down in Anaheim this weekend as interleague gets underway. They've got to put up a good showing and win two of three against the Angels...
I suppose the ugliest of the games, although it wasn't really all that ugly, was yesterday's loss to the Astros at home. They had already won the first two games of the series in convincing fashion when Hiroki Kuroda took the mound to hopefully rebound from his horrific start during the week against the Mets. All he did was take a no-hitter into the seventh inning with two outs. He gave a hit to Hunter Pence, then a run, and then he was done. But the Dodgers still had the lead 2-1, and stretched it out to 3-1 in the bottom of the inning. Then it all unraveled. Jonathan Broxton couldn't get anyone out to save his life, and the Astros blew the game open with a 6-run eighth inning and eventually won 8-5.
I guess it just goes to show you what can happen when you lose one important guy in the lineup. It becomes contagious. No knock on Juan Pierre, who hasn't played all that bad when he's gotten the chance to play. But Pierre just doesn't seem to have that same effect on an offense like Raffy does, and it shows. The offense just hasn't been the same since Raffy went down, and it could be another week or so before he's back. So for now, because the Dodgers don't dare set forth with a lineup without a "true" leadoff hitter, Pierre plays and leads off, and Ethier probably sits while Torre allows Andruw more time to figure his swing out at the bottom of the lineup.
The Blue head to Milwaukee for three, and with perfect timing, I suppose, because they won't get a chance to further damage former Dodger Eric Gagne's season as the Brewers closer since he was pulled from that role over the weekend. But the Brewers are struggling themselves, so now would be an ideal time to get going again. After three in Brew Town, they head back to the Southland to face the Halos down in Anaheim this weekend as interleague gets underway. They've got to put up a good showing and win two of three against the Angels...
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