Cody Ransom doesn’t have many good memories of Dodger Stadium. It was his ninth-inning error on October 2, 2004 that helped keep the Dodgers’ comeback hopes alive long enough for Steve Finley to hit his division-winning grand slam. Ransom had struck out in four of five career at-bats at Chavez Ravine going into tonight’s game, then struck out three more times and grounded into a double play this evening.
But when Ransom does produce against the Dodgers, he makes it count. His only home run of 2011 beat Clayton Kershaw last August, and he made two big defensive plays in the bottom of the ninth tonight, shorthopping a Dee Gordon grounder on the run and diving for another by Tony Gwynn Jr. to create a force play, that helped preserve Milwaukee’s 3-2 victory over the Dodgers.
The Brewers broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning with two unearned runs that followed a leadoff error charged to Aaron Harang when his throw to first base pulled James Loney off the bag – at least according to first base umpire Todd Tichenor. Replays showed otherwise. A walk, RBI single (the last of Milwaukee’s four hits), sacrifice and sacrifice fly followed, and that was enough.
The final run might have been prevented had Javy Guerra thrown to third on the sacrifice instead of going for a 1-6-3 double play and only succeeding on the 1-6 part, but such is life.
The good news for the Dodgers is that Matt Kemp, who homered in both his rehabilitation appearances with Albuquerque, is expected to be activated before Tuesday’s game.
Anonymous
4 more RBI-less ABs for Nyjer Morgan. That’s 116 ABs in 42 games without driving a run in.
Paul
The consolation for the rest of us, of course, is that hopefully this leads to more time for Aoki. See my comment re Jon’s post below. I just added Aoki as well.
Anonymous
Old friend Cory Wade’s appearance in Anaheim was quite brief. Came in to give up a game-ending homer to Mark Trumbo.
Jon Weisman
I was shocked by Richie Weeks’ batting average.
Paul
This is why you need do the fantasy thing. Simply have yourself a single team in a 16 teamer with deep rosters. Then you’ll know how Mitch Maier is hitting. By the way, is it wrong to hope that Uribe stays on the DL for a very long time? Not saying that I necessarily need that, but in my 16 teamer I had but the one CF, Jennings, and he seems to have grown a fondness for the DL. I added Gwynn once Kemp went on the DL but, alas, Matt isn’t so fond of the DL. So I just dropped Gwynn for Hairston Jr., who is eligible at CF. Beyond Jennings coming back, Jerry is also eligible at multiple positions, so if he could be in the lineup on a regular basis, he’d be a valuable man to have about. Now let me end my with my original point, and so for a few days there, until Matt went on the DL, I had one Jarrod Dyson in CF. So, Jon, as I suggested, grab yourself a 16 teamer and there won’t be anymore surprises. Almost forgot, but speaking of Weeks, his brother is sucking wind as well. Nothing quite says craptitude than an OBP below .300 and an OPS below .600.
Jon Weisman
You’re assuming the shock is a bad thing.
Given the choice of spending hours and hours on an activity in which I’m not interested, or looking up at the scoreboard and going, “Wow, Richie Weeks is batting .152,” I’ll take the latter.
Anonymous
Paul made the case why I don’t play fantasy anything.
Anonymous
Richie Weeks?
Anonymous
Going through the B-R Play Index streak finder, the longest RBI-less streak in number of ABs for a position player I can find is 213 by Brett Butler in 1982 and 1983. He had 7 RBI in the first few games of 1982 and then none the rest of the year. Then he drove in 2 runs in the third game of the 1983 season.
Anonymous
Guerra could not have thrown to third, because Hairston was charging in. The only play was at second (or first).
Louis Rasky
Thought Kemp was being activated for tomorrow’s game
Anonymous
Who will go down when Kemp comes in tomorrow? Dejesus, Herrera, Sands or Van Slyke? I assume Sands or Van Slyke since Kemp is an outfielder, and I would go for Sands.
Anonymous
If IDJ is running on the 3-2 pitch then Ransom isn’t in position to stops Gwynn ‘s roller and IDJ ends up at 3B. Oh well. At least Matty will be back.
Anonymous
The short hop and throw was a wonderful play.
Anonymous
Has Abreu hit a HR for us yet?
Anonymous
No, he’s no longer a slugger, but he’s still a tough out. I expect he’ll hit a few before the season’s over.
Anonymous
And stole 2B in a key spot yesterday. Wish he was 10 years younger.
Anonymous
He’s not an everyday player any more, but he’s more than just a scrub on the bench.
Anonymous
He has been a great pick up for us
Terry Pruett
We can argue over managerial tactics until the cows come home, so I won’t belabor the point….but bunting a runner from 2nd to 3rd in the 1st inning with nobody out and your 2, 3, and 4 hitters coming up is just stupid baseball. Yes, the run scored, but Mattingly’s decision to bunt put a bullet behind the ear of any possible big inning. AAAARRRRGGGGHHH…
And…if Mattingly’s tendency to throw away outs like junk mail is our biggest problem…then we’re in pretty good shape. :)
Anonymous
Is Kemp going to be activited before todays game or not?
Jonathan Alcaraz
hey jon do you know when matt guerrier is coming back? is his injury taking longer to heal than expected?
Anonymous
He’s been shut down as his elbow wasn’t improving.
http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120525&content_id=32222836¬ebook_id=32230570&vkey=notebook_la&c_id=la
Jon Weisman
A.J. Ellis “has become a sort of human shorthand for everything Dodger fans craved”
bit.ly/Js7FfK
Jon Weisman
NPUT