Let's start with last night's game since it was quite a spectacle. In all my years of watching baseball, I've seen some bizarre things, some ugly games, you name it. And last night's game against the Mets was certainly one of those games.
Fast forward to the top of the 11th inning of a 2-2 tie, the Mets had already committed three errors in this game, two by shortstop Ramon Martinez, just called up by the Mets to start at short with Jose Reyes still out for what is being described as an injury, and Alex Cora, Reyes's back-up, who just landed on the DL with a injured finger he wrecked the night before sliding into second base. With Ryan Church at first and Angel Pagan at the dish for the NYers, Pagan sent a ball into the right-center field gap for what appeared to be a run-scoring triple, and a 3-2 lead for the Mets. But as the ball was being relayed back into the infield, Dodger third baseman Mark Loretta was summoning for the ball to be thrown over to him. Once he had the ball, he jogged over to third base, stepped on the bag, and the third base umpire called someone out. Apparently, Ryan Church had missed third base when he was rounding the bag on Pagan's hit. On the television replays, you could see both Loretta and the umpire watching Church and/or the bag as he rounded it to score. The run was nullified, the inning was over, the Mets were stunned, and the Dodgers were still tied 2-2.
Then in the bottom half of the inning, the Mets made two more costly errors that resulted in the winning run for the Dodgers. After Loretta walked to lead off the inning, Xavier Paul hit a fly ball to left-center field. Both Pagan and centerfielder Carlos Beltran called for it. Then at the last second, the ball dropped between them, and the ball rolled to the wall. Beltran was credited with the error. Juan Pierre was then walked intentionally. One out later, with Beltran now acting as a fifth infielder right in front of second base with the infield playing in at the grass, Orlando Hudson sent a little grounder to first base. Jeremy Reed, usually an outfielder, fielded the ball and threw to home plate to get the force out there, but instead threw the ball wide of the catcher, allowing Loretta to score the winning run. Dodgers win 3-2.
This was about as wild a game as I can ever remember. The Mets essentially gave the Dodgers the game in the 11th. And what's got to be more humiliating than anything for the Mets, was the fact they played the game as if they weren't a first place team. Just about every error and mistake the Mets made last night proved to be costly. They deserved to lose. And to make matters worse, they have to face Chad Billingsley tonight, who is 5-1 with an ERA of about 2.20 on the season.
Mets fans can cry all they want about the umpires hosing their team, or cry all they want about the Church call at third base, but when you commit five errors in a game, you have no business winning the game. The Dodgers played a flawless game, made some great defensive plays, and got great pitching from starter Randy Wolf, who went 7 2/3 of an inning while making just 93 pitches, and the bullpen. Tim Redding wasn't so bad himself, but defensive miscues and base-running blunders clearly cost the Mets a game they could have won.
I purposely saved the Clayton Kershaw near no-hitter because I wanted people to realize and understand how good this kid really is. When you have people like Sandy Koufax raving about him, and people like Vin Scully making comparisons to Koufax, you almost know the kid is gonna be something special.
On Sunday afternoon, Kershaw was something special. He took a no-hitter into the eighth inning and was masterful doing so in a 12-5 win over the Marlins. And don't let the score deceive you. Four of the five runs came in the ninth inning off Guillermo Mota on a Cody Ross grand slam, long after Kershaw left the game. In fact, the score was 12-0 when Kershaw gave up the lone hit he allowed.
That win capped off a 4-2 road trip as the Blue won two series. As it stands now, after last nights "win" over the Mets, the Dodgers continue to carry the best record in baseball at 27-13. They have a 6½ game lead in the standings over the Hated Ones to the North, they have league best 15-3 home record, they've score the most runs in the NL, second most in baseball, given up the fewest, have the best run differential in baseball, have the best team batting average in the NL, third in the league overall, have the best on-base percentage in baseball, have the best team ERA in the NL, second best in baseball, and their starters have the best collective ERA in baseball.
If the teams outside of the NL West, sans the Dodgers, are considered to be the elite teams, then the Dodgers are doing just fine with them. And they're doing just fine, so far, without Manny Ramirez. It's good to be a Dodger fan these days!
Fast forward to the top of the 11th inning of a 2-2 tie, the Mets had already committed three errors in this game, two by shortstop Ramon Martinez, just called up by the Mets to start at short with Jose Reyes still out for what is being described as an injury, and Alex Cora, Reyes's back-up, who just landed on the DL with a injured finger he wrecked the night before sliding into second base. With Ryan Church at first and Angel Pagan at the dish for the NYers, Pagan sent a ball into the right-center field gap for what appeared to be a run-scoring triple, and a 3-2 lead for the Mets. But as the ball was being relayed back into the infield, Dodger third baseman Mark Loretta was summoning for the ball to be thrown over to him. Once he had the ball, he jogged over to third base, stepped on the bag, and the third base umpire called someone out. Apparently, Ryan Church had missed third base when he was rounding the bag on Pagan's hit. On the television replays, you could see both Loretta and the umpire watching Church and/or the bag as he rounded it to score. The run was nullified, the inning was over, the Mets were stunned, and the Dodgers were still tied 2-2.
Then in the bottom half of the inning, the Mets made two more costly errors that resulted in the winning run for the Dodgers. After Loretta walked to lead off the inning, Xavier Paul hit a fly ball to left-center field. Both Pagan and centerfielder Carlos Beltran called for it. Then at the last second, the ball dropped between them, and the ball rolled to the wall. Beltran was credited with the error. Juan Pierre was then walked intentionally. One out later, with Beltran now acting as a fifth infielder right in front of second base with the infield playing in at the grass, Orlando Hudson sent a little grounder to first base. Jeremy Reed, usually an outfielder, fielded the ball and threw to home plate to get the force out there, but instead threw the ball wide of the catcher, allowing Loretta to score the winning run. Dodgers win 3-2.
This was about as wild a game as I can ever remember. The Mets essentially gave the Dodgers the game in the 11th. And what's got to be more humiliating than anything for the Mets, was the fact they played the game as if they weren't a first place team. Just about every error and mistake the Mets made last night proved to be costly. They deserved to lose. And to make matters worse, they have to face Chad Billingsley tonight, who is 5-1 with an ERA of about 2.20 on the season.
Mets fans can cry all they want about the umpires hosing their team, or cry all they want about the Church call at third base, but when you commit five errors in a game, you have no business winning the game. The Dodgers played a flawless game, made some great defensive plays, and got great pitching from starter Randy Wolf, who went 7 2/3 of an inning while making just 93 pitches, and the bullpen. Tim Redding wasn't so bad himself, but defensive miscues and base-running blunders clearly cost the Mets a game they could have won.
I purposely saved the Clayton Kershaw near no-hitter because I wanted people to realize and understand how good this kid really is. When you have people like Sandy Koufax raving about him, and people like Vin Scully making comparisons to Koufax, you almost know the kid is gonna be something special.
On Sunday afternoon, Kershaw was something special. He took a no-hitter into the eighth inning and was masterful doing so in a 12-5 win over the Marlins. And don't let the score deceive you. Four of the five runs came in the ninth inning off Guillermo Mota on a Cody Ross grand slam, long after Kershaw left the game. In fact, the score was 12-0 when Kershaw gave up the lone hit he allowed.
That win capped off a 4-2 road trip as the Blue won two series. As it stands now, after last nights "win" over the Mets, the Dodgers continue to carry the best record in baseball at 27-13. They have a 6½ game lead in the standings over the Hated Ones to the North, they have league best 15-3 home record, they've score the most runs in the NL, second most in baseball, given up the fewest, have the best run differential in baseball, have the best team batting average in the NL, third in the league overall, have the best on-base percentage in baseball, have the best team ERA in the NL, second best in baseball, and their starters have the best collective ERA in baseball.
If the teams outside of the NL West, sans the Dodgers, are considered to be the elite teams, then the Dodgers are doing just fine with them. And they're doing just fine, so far, without Manny Ramirez. It's good to be a Dodger fan these days!
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