If you've got a restless night, throw out your medicine cabinet and head straight for the TiVo. That's right: watching a replay of today's Dodger game against the D-backs will put you into a sleep that is deeper than any pill could ever hope to achieve, and with none of those nasty side effects.
... I take it back: confusion, agitation, and aggression may occur after watching the Dodgers' most recent sweep.
Here's the game summary: G Anderson singled to center,
M Kemp scored. Ari: 0, LAD: 1
Yeah, that's about it.
A 3-game series sweep with 3 walk-off wins (the first time since 1982) should be incredibly exciting - it wasn't. Today's game was the Dodger's second 1-0 walk-off, extra-inning victory in as many days; however, ten innings weren't enough for the Dodgers this time. Instead, they had to continue playing until the crowd (who's total attendance appeared to be in the triple-digits, at best) got another opportunity to sing "Take me Out to the Ball Game," which took place during the 14th inning stretch.
The Dodger recorded only three hits throughout the first nine innings, all of which we're from one player - Jamey Carrol. Carrol has gone 6 for 9 over the last two games, and has absolutely earned his spot as one of Torre's first players off the bench. The first real scoring threat of the game from either team did not come until the bottom of the 10th when Loney began the inning with a double; neither team had a man on third until Matt Kemp was able to achieve the seemingly impossible feat with 2 outs in the bottom of the 14th. What happened next was something just short of a miracle: Garret Anderson (who was 0-5 up to that point and was batting only .156 for the season) was able to knock a blooper to straight away center that dropped safely just milliseconds before being scooped up by the diving Chris Young.
Though Anderson's numbers have been frustrating as of late, the leadership he brings to the team is invaluable.
We learned almost nothing about the Dodgers from this series, except that they have no problem with playing down to their opponent... and it's difficult to even consider Arizona an opponent: the level of baseball they're playing right now doesn't even belong in the minors, let along the majors.
Exhibit A - The Dodgers' starting lineup:
SS Carroll
CF Kemp
RF Ethier
1B Loney
LF Anderson
3B Belliard
2B DeWitt
C Ellis
P Monasterios
If you cannot take advantage of the Dodgers on a day when Torre decides to rest Manny, Casey Blake, Russell Martin, and Rafael Furcal, then you don't deserve to play Major League Baseball. You need both hands to count the number of unrecognizable names used in today's game by the Dodgers.
Exhibit B - The Diamondbacks have now completed 31 scoreless innings
Yes, that's bad. What's even worse is the fact that they have failed to advance a man to third base over that span.
Exhibit C - Today's game was the D-backs tenth loss in a row
They went 0-9 on their road trip. There's not much you can say about it - that's just really bad.
While the Dodgers' offense has certainly looked equally shaky over the last couple of days, I'm not worried. Whether it's by a score of 1-0 or 10-0, we are still winning the games we need to win, and are not wasting the impressive outings turned in by our pitching staff; it's simply a case of playing both up and down to our opponents.
Most importantly, the Dodgers have been beating up on the teams that they need to beat up on - the NL west. The Dodgers have won eight out of nine games against the D-backs this year, 4 out of 5 against San Diego, and have won nine straight series against the Rockies. In total, the Dodgers have an incredible 18-5 record against the NL west.
I'm looking forward to the red-hot braves coming into town tomorrow. They recently swept the Phillies and are riding an eight-game win streak. It should be one hell of a series.
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