Dee Gordon, SS
Tony Gwynn Jr., CF
Matt Kemp, DH
Juan Rivera, LF
Adam Kennedy, 1B
Jerry Hairston Jr., 3B
Jerry Sands, RF
A.J. Ellis, C
Ivan De Jesus Jr., 2B
(Chad Billingsley, P)
Highlights:
- Nathan Eovaldi duplicated Clayton Kershaw from the day before in throwing three shutout innings with no strikeouts.
- Matt Chico and Josh Wall each pitched a shutout inning of relief with two strikeouts.
- Josh Fields’ hot hitting continued: 2 for 4 with two RBI.
- Matt Treanor homered in his first at-bat.
- The Dodgers turned four double plays.
Lowlights:
- Ronald Belisario allowed four runs (three earned) on three hits and a walk.
- Alex Castellanos, who moved from left field to second base midway through the game, went 0 for 4 and also made an error that contributed to the unearned run.
- Justin Sellers took a batted ball to the chin and had to leave the game.
Sidelights:
- With one Mariner on and one out, the bottom of the fifth ended as J.P Hoonstra of the Daily News describes:
… With (one out) and a runner on first base in the Mariners’ half of the fifth inning, Casper Wells lined a single to right field. Trent Oeltjen couldn’t come up with the catch but Wells mistakenly passed the runner, Michael Saunders, and was immediately called out. Oeltjen’s throw went to first baseman James Loney as Saunders took off for second base. The shortstop, Luis Cruz, didn’t realize that Wells was out and tagged second base with his foot thinking a force play was in effect. It wasn’t, but Saunders took a couple steps off the bag, Cruz tagged him out, and the inning was over.
- Castellanos also completed a game-ending double play, catching a Tim Federowicz throw after a Wells strikeout and making the tag on Saunders.
- Andre Ethier is day-to-day with back stiffness.
- Don Mattingly to Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com on the midseason firing of hitting coach Jeff Pentland:
… “That coaching change wasn’t comfortable at all,” Mattingly said. “I love Pent, and I think he is really good at what he does. He has a ton of knowledge with the swing and how it works. It was tough, but somebody has to go if something is going badly, because you can’t get rid of the players. It happened to us in New York, whenever they would fire the manager or the pitching coach or whoever it might be. I always knew in that situation that we had failed as players. We let somebody down. We took the blame, but somebody had to go.” …
Anonymous
Andre Ethier is day-to-day with back stiffness. Me, too. Dang its annoying.
KT
I’ve been day to day w/ back stiffness since 9/13/10…Now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel since surgery on 8/5/11…I figure a couple more months will do it
Anonymous
No problem with this – he’ll be fine. This gives us more time to see Sands, Castellanos, Van Slyke, etc. I really like the possibilities of Josh Fields – good stick/power. I think either Grabow, Antonini, Castillo, Ledezma or Chico make the roster – time to move Troncoso and Belisario on to another organization – need some young infield/OF depth in the minors – both of these guys can be dealt to the AL for some young talent. I can see Fields making a huge impact sharing time at 3B with Uribe and 1B with Loney. Also, Castellanos, Van Slyke and Sands are close to making a big impact – Sands and Fields get the last two non- pitcher roster spots, while Castellanos, FedEx, and Van Slyke are in-season call ups. Fields, Hairston, Kennedy, Sands, Treanor and Gwynn give us a better balanced bench than last year.
Anonymous
it feels like spring, nothing is better
Jeffrey Thomas III
I don’t get that whole strange double play account. You say there were two outs, then Wells was immediately called out for passing Saunders, wouldn’t that end the inning there? I don’t see how it matters what Saunders did at that point. Or was there only 1 out to begin with? I’m confused.
Anonymous
Yes, that confuses me also.
Anonymous
Worst Bobblehead Ever?
http://tinyurl.com/6uztvn9
Anonymous
And here I always considered the Running of the Presidents to be an abomination.
Anonymous
It’s not exactly a bobblehead, but see http://chiwulltun.blogspot.com/2011/08/el-indio-picaro-una-obra-tradicional-de.html. After Mr Quayle’s visit to Chile, local carvers produced a similar work with his face.
Anonymous
He got that in Horcon, no? Surprised he didn’t walk away with a bong as well.
Anonymous
I don’t recall exactly where he got it, but a friend did give a copy of one with the VP’s head – the rest of the body I can’t vouch for – that I have since lost.
Anonymous
There’s a truncated version of the story in English at http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1115221.html
Anonymous
I once had a long conversation with an Indy limo driver who drove the Quayles a lot. said Dan was a nice guy, sat in front when alone, talked sports, etc. Bur Marilyn was an unpleasant snob.
Anonymous
If the Brits did something analogous at a soccer game, Gladstone, Disraeli and Churchill would be standing rather than running.
Jon Weisman
NPUT