Dodgers at Angels, 7:05 p.m.
Dee Gordon, SS
Jerry Hairston Jr., 2B
Andre Ethier, RF
Bobby Abreu, DH
Juan Rivera, LF
James Loney, 1B
Adam Kennedy, 3B
A.J. Ellis, C
Tony Gwynn Jr., CF
(Chad Billingsley, P)
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Jeffrey Thomas III
Interesting to see Jerry in the two hole. I am glad James is back in the line up, but not so happy that Kennedy is as well. I guess Herrera could use a rest. Or Donnie is just trying to get all the ex-Angels in thinking it will somehow spark their bats…
Terry Pruett
There is absolutely no reason for Kennedy to be in the lineup tonight, unless he has some ungodly success against Haran I don’t know about. Herrera is a player in his 20’s, riding the high of early big league success…he doesn’t need a rest. If he was in there at 3rd, I’d say this is the best lineup we can field at this time. Except for Gordon leading off, where he is a continuous running sore. If you had Herrera and AJ 1 and 2, or Herrera and Hairston, or Abreu and Herrera…I’d be all in. But…Manager Don is apparently going down the smokestack with Gordon, come what may.
Jeffrey Thomas III
Kennedy has hit .281 with 2 home runs and 7 RBI in 32 at bats over his career against Haren. Though I imagine much of his success came years ago. Ethier also has 2 home runs and 7 RBI against him but that’s paired with a .386 average. Also Loney does quite well hitting .359 against Haren.
Terry Pruett
I think in general, the Dodgers handled Haren well when he was in AZ. Kennedy’s numbers certainly are pretty good against Haren (thanks for looking them up!). That must be the reason he’s in there.
Robert Babbitt
Where does this manager dream up these lineups….
Gordon and Kennedy don’t belong in the major leagues, much less in the lineup…
It is so frustrating that this manager Insists on using these players… Especially when their are better options available…..
Anonymous
At least there’s no Uribe.
Robert Babbitt
I am watching the Dodger pre-game show…
The announcers are showing Gordon in the batting cage – doing everything wrong…
He just refuses to learn… They are frustrated, just as I am…Like they said..”he should have learned how to bunt in Little League… His technique is horrible… I honestly think this kid is just to DUMB to learn… Truly Sad…
Jon Weisman
Your comments are starting to become too hostile. You’ve made your point.
Anonymous
too
Robert Babbitt
John,
First of all, I have been a devout fan of the dodgers since the 50’s Probably longer than you have been alive…. I have played baseball almost my entire life.. Plus coaching and even some umpiring at the minor league level….I still play in the Senior Leagues in the southwest…. Now, if my opinion or my use of the words clown, stupid, dumb etc. offend you then obviously I am wasting my time reading your blog… You, evidently can only see the Dodgers through Rose Colored Glasses and are not willing to read/listen to an opinion that doesn’t agree with how you happen to feel… Or maybe you think those words are too harsh… Which in itself is Stupid, in my opinion… No Need to Reply.. I won’t be wasting any more time at this website…
Christopher Staaf
First, good evening to you all. Second, thank goodness interleague play comes to an end after this weekend. Third, I have resigned myself to the fact that Kennedy will be with the Dodgers for the entire year. Enjoy the game and Go Blue.
KT
Let’s Go Blue ^_^
Linkmeister
Can’t you guys knock it off with the Gordon hatred? The kid’s been in the big leagues less than one full season, and yet you guys want him to play like Tulowitzki or Jeter or somebody. C’mon.
Michael Green
I am reminded of a Dodger shortstop who made 47 errors in his first full year after 18 in his first half-season the year before. I’m not saying Dee Gordon is the next Pee Wee Reese. But he’s a kid, and patience is sometimes worthwhile. By contrast, we have been far, far, far too patient with Chad Billingsley. Sorry, but the limit has been reached.
Anonymous
First, Pee Wee Reese was 21. Second, it’s far easier to explain his 47 error season as an anomaly than to say PWR matured and made improvements. Just look at his error rates throughout his career: they hover around .965 for years, aside from a spike and dip here and there. I’ve noticed this with other shortstops, too (at least the ones who’s had long careers at short). My guess is error rate is probably something that stabilizes at a very young age, and Dee just doesn’t have the physical talents to play short without throwing the ball away 35-40 times a year.
Anonymous
1 pitch 1 out, good leadoff AB there.
KT
Nice Jerry
Robert Babbitt
Gordon right on Q – so typical 1 pitch 1dribbler to the pitcher
Christopher Staaf
Wow Bobby! That’s what I am talking about!
KT
Nice hit Dre
Bobby!!!!
Anonymous
What was that by Abreu? It looked like a hit but it went over the fence? I have no idea what to call that.
Christopher Staaf
We only have 6 of those this month…while Mark Trumbo has 7 all by himself. :(
Jeffrey Thomas III
Bobby feeds off of your boos Halo fans.
Also thanks for cutting him and paying his salary Arte!
KT
^_^
KT
Nice play Adam
foul tip
Curious about knowledgeable opinions of 1B Adam Lind of Toronto…or, maybe, formerly of Toronto. May have been outrighted. Blue Jay manager John Ferrell says he was optioned, not outrighted…??? I know very little about him other than 109 HR in the bigs and totals of 35, 23, and 26 HR the last 3 years. Won a Silver Slugger in ’09.
This story says he’s obviously in decline. His stats this year are bad.
But Ferrell talks about his approach at the plate being fouled up, and says–“He hasn’t lost his abilities, it’s in there. We have to get back to unlocking that and letting it play out more consistently.”
http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120520&content_id=31801706&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
Hmm…could a change of scenery help? Would it be smart for the Dodgers to try?
Eric Enders
This is the game where Mattingly finally figured out what the DH spot was for.
Anonymous
If I take this a face value it seems terribly unfair; if it is due to Abreu hitting a HR than it’s cute but too cute
KT
Nice DP..not even ordered….That’s what I like to see!!!!
KT
Good Eye Tony…get on any way you can until you break that slump
KT
good job moving the runner Dee
KT
Jerry!!
KT
Aybar really deeked Jerry there…Jerry thought there was going to be a play at second when he could have gone to 3rd
KT
Good hit Juan!!
Christopher Staaf
This is the offense I was waiting for!
KT
Hopefully they do this the whole series
KT
Wow…Terrible inning by Lincecum
Anonymous
Thought it would be worse than only three runs allowed when I saw your comment. Plus he still managed to strike out the side.
KT
Yea but his pitch count is way up there (64) in the bottom of the 3rd
Jeffrey Thomas III
Seems like the usual Lincecum inning this year.
KT
Come on DP
KT
Come on Billz…Throw strikes
KT
Pitching behind is killing Billz this inning
Anonymous
Billingsley would make a great fifth starter.
bcmaiden
Glad to see the Dodgers have come to play offensively. Unfortunately, they’ll need a lot more runs to stay ahead of this juggernaut lineup.
Anonymous
Bye bye lead.
KT
Vinny forgot how many outs there were
Anonymous
I wish Loney could have fielded that first grounder of the inning that was hit two feet to his right.
KT
Thought that ball was smoked by him
Anonymous
Maybe Lincecum is smoking balls too…easy mistake to make.
KT
you trying to get me banded from the site ^_^
bcmaiden
But it was smoked
Anonymous
Wasn’t hit that hard, and he jumped over it.
KT
Just rewound the DVR…The ball was in the hole and hit pretty hard…Yes Loney Jumped but the ball was past him before he went “over” it
KT
that’s how I saw it
KT
Come on Dan give those runs back to us
KT
Good hit AJ
Make him work Tony
Anonymous
Giants coming back. Lincecum isn’t pitching bad enough.
underdog
If I hadn’t missed the first Oakland game I’d be sure I was a jinx after watching Dodgers futility the last two games before this one. At any rate, good to see the offense awaken from its coma, at least!
KT
^_^
bcmaiden
Tee balls won’t get by these guys.
bcmaiden
Zeroes from Billz the rest of the way.
bcmaiden
Man, Haren is pounding the inside part of the plate.
Anonymous
Did i miss anything? i just walked in.
Anonymous
ii’m convinced, i bring bad luck.
bcmaiden
Wishful thinking. I knew better with Billz. Sometimes I wonder if our guys study scouting reports and hit charts.
Anonymous
Wow Billingsley, there are no words…
Anonymous
With the Dodgers up by a score of 5-0 going into the bottom of the 2nd….
…
My wife said..”This is great, but wait til those bats of the Angels try to ‘go to work’ on this lead…”
…
I said, “No…..just wait til CHAD BILLINGSLEY ‘goes to work’ on this lead…”
;-)
Anonymous
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
KT
Play at the plate: Of course AJ missed the tag but why did he throw to 1st when there was no call?
Anonymous
was wondering why the ump took so long, just gave me the answer.
bcmaiden
DP probably, except he never tagged him and Aybar missed the plate and both stood there until Aybar jumped on the plate. That’s when he called him safe.
Josh
Strangest part is that Aybar did touch the plate, and did so pretty clearly.
KT
very clearly
Anonymous
I’m jinxing this on purpose: The Dodgers “shot their wod” in the first 2 innings, and are now “sitting ducks” with Bills on the hill and an otherwise struggling offense.
…
I jinx it on purpose because I hope that doesn’t turn out to be the tale of this game.
Anonymous
Just saying… If you blow a 5 run lead, you probably deserve to wear a cubs uniform.
bcmaiden
I can hang with that. I pretty much gave up on him 2 years ago. Billz for Dempster.
bcmaiden
EO is sitting there saying why can’t I get 5 runs behind me. I’d have 4 or 5 wins.
Anonymous
When Lilly comes back Eovaldi needs to take Billingsleys spot in the rotation.
Rick Libott
Big BAD Billingsley…
Anonymous
i’m never going to here the end of it on monday by my Halo co-worker.
Anonymous
wondering out loud when & if De La Rose will come back this year.
bcmaiden
Not likely. Maybe a BP stint in Sept. if at all.
bcmaiden
Wow, Eman has been making great catches lately.
Christopher Staaf
Dre just saved Billz.
KT
Dre!!!!
bcmaiden
Fat pitches all day long vs this team = disaster.
Anonymous
the night is still young, lets score some runs!
Anonymous
Dude he was safe! err.
KT
Think we got ripped on that call but it was close
Anonymous
tie goes to the runner, KT, when it rains it pours.
bcmaiden
Dee has got to be removed from the lead off spot. He really belongs in the minors but we don’t have another SS. Hey Ned, how about a temporary stopgap at SS.
Anonymous
yup, that was fair, good call blue.
KT
Good play by wright and Adam
Anonymous
Halo runner going to 3rd on a bunt, Wright thru it to 3rd for the out, finally something right going for us.
bcmaiden
Man, to have a player like Trout would be incredible.
KT
we have one…his name is Matt Kemp
bcmaiden
Like Bluebleeder said the kid is 20, Matt is 27 I think. Then you have the injury issue.
Anonymous
gotta prays there scouting dept., from what i heard Vinnie say the other day, a few teams didn’t think to much of him.
the guy is 20 years old!! YIKES!
bcmaiden
Game ovah. Fat pitches everywhere. Walk everybody in front of Pujols. Come on A’s.
bcmaiden
Here’s an idea: Dodgers just forfeit all 6 games to the Angels every year so we aren’t tempted to commit Hari Kari.
Anonymous
Ok..
…
Runners at 1st and 2nd with one out…
…
A ‘bullet’ of a line drive base hit to RF (pretty routine) … not quite ‘straight away RF’ but close…
…
Runner on 1B NOT going on the pitch.
…
Most fans / coaches / players are looking to see if the runner on 1B stops at 2B or takes 3B…
…
Instead: Ethier handles it in a kinda lazy way, Trout is hustling his rear end off… and SCORES!
…
To me, ‘That Single Play’ sums up this whole game….
It also sums up the difference between the respective rosters (and 2012 prognosis) of these two clubs.
PS – It will take more than Matt Kemp to get this club to the playoffs.
Anonymous
Absolutely no reason in this world why a guy scores from 1B on a ball like that.
Anonymous
Brutal….
bcmaiden
As soon as our opponents throw out LH RP’s, we are doomed.
KT
Why Uribe…his lightning in a bottle is so rare
KT
ball 4 Juan…come on
Anonymous
oh man!
i’ll be hoping for the best fellas, have to head out to riverside.
KT
safe trip
Jason Ungar
I thought Uribe was gonna pull a muscle trying to hit that low and away ball 4 pitch as hard as he could into the left field seats on 3-0..
Anonymous
same here man, o.k. i gotta go.
Go Dodgers!
bcmaiden
Don’t look now but the Snakes are making a move in the division.
Anonymous
From 5 games under 500 they came back to 500 by winning their last 2 against Colo. and then sweeping Oakland 3. But then, they went 5-5 in their last 10; 1-2 against both Texas and Angels, 2-1 against Seattle and 1-0 vs Cubs to be 500 again. Their move is based on our losing as much as their winning.
However, among your consistently negative comments (the only positive one I remember was love for Gordon when he hit his walk-off) this one actually had some tenuously connected facts to back it.
bcmaiden
<>
Last time I checked, a team can only gain a game in the standings if they win and the team ahead loses. This statement of yours is ridiculous.
KT
going to the top of the 9th 3-1 in Oak town
bcmaiden
Closer put 2 on no outs trying to make my night ever more miserable.
bcmaiden
Belt just tied the game. BAD WORDS
KT
Tie game in Oakland
bcmaiden
Ugly defense from the A’s with go ahead runner on 2nd still no outs and pitcher can’t throw strikes.
bcmaiden
This is a strange move by Donnie. Someone have an explanation?
bcmaiden
Oh man, base hit for Gints still no outs men on 1st and 3rd.
Robert Babbitt
The Dodgers are playing Horrible, Horrible baseball….
Team announcers said “they need to WAKE UP”….
Announcers also said that Coaches are getting FRUSTRATED with Gordon’s inability to bunt the ball correctly…Also said he often misses coaches signs… Dumb, Dumb, Dumb…
Billingsly gives up a 5 run lead in 4 innings….Big Surprise… What took him so long????
And,Of course, they had lots of help from that dynamic duo of Gordon & Kennedy…The two Weakest hitters on the team… Also, the two Worst defensive players on the team… Thank God our genius Manager had the foresight too put these two Clowns in the lineup…. Question: If you don’t play your best players (instead, playing your two worst players) can you really expect to win???
Gordon: weak grounder to pitcher
weak grounder to first base
strikes out
hits into a double play
weak fly ball to left
Kennedy: walk
fly out to center
strikes out
With this kind of production, how can we expect to win games???? Especially when one of them is your Lead Off Hitter….
I know that the entire team is in a FUNK…. BUT when the manager keeps making the same bad decisions over & over & over again, can you really expect success????
Christopher Staaf
At this rate, the Dodgers will lose the NL West lead after their series in SF next week.
I do want to see Gordon in the 8 spot again but I doubt it will happen because Mattingly will never put Herrera or Abreu (two guys who know how to work the count) at the lead off spot.
bcmaiden
Giants are now winning because the A’s suck and I need some chocolate.
bcmaiden
Great AB Rivera watching 3 straight fastballs down the pipe.
Anonymous
the last called strike was outside not even in the strike zone much less down the pipe
bcmaiden
Sorry, looked like a strike to me as agreed by others in this thread. What’s your deal anyway? You come into a game thread after the fact and attack my posts. Most of the time others post the same sentiment or agree with it, but you attack me. Isn’t there some rule about that, Mr. I only want to see people post stats, scientific facts, and happy thoughts?
Linkmeister
How many called third strikes did the Dodgers look at in this game, I wonder? That inning where Haren struck out the side I think 2 of 3 at least, plus Rivera in the ninth, and probably more.
At least offer at a pitch, fer cryin’ out loud!
Anonymous
Giants will be in first place by the end of the month.
Anonymous
Hey Jon – I was wondering if you have every thought of writing the “Still in first place, but playing lousy of late and in danger of falling into second place soon Loser’s Dividend” post?
I would be fairly interested in that right about now!
Honestly though, I haven’t enjoyed the way the Dodgers have played of late and yet I still have enjoyed the fact that I get to be a part of following them. Cheering on this wonderfully flawed, somewhat fascinating team.
Blue-eyed Gal
Thought I’d stop by to sample the sky is falling posts.
We were spoiled by a team of callups and spare parts holding the best record in the majors while Kemp and lots of guys were on the DL (anyone remember we’re short a #3?), and now, gosh, they’re playing more like we expected. Kemp will be off the DL in a bit. I’ll hold my breath a bit until we’re sure he’s really healed, but honestly, the Dodgers were due for a slump during his absence. About the only thing that really concerns me is Kershaw and plantar fasciitis.
And yes, Gordon is playing like a young guy who got called up awfully early. Gee, what a surprise! I would love to be able to send him back down for some more seasoning…maybe… but for most of the season guys like Herrera and Hairston have made up for his bat. (Also, honestly, while Loney’s bat is uninspiring, he makes Dee a better shortstop than he would be otherwise.)
Anonymous
Yes, rather than the sky falling, what we are seeing is something I think most of us knew all along that this particular set of players has its limitations. Yet, we certainly remain in a good position and we could be around at the end with Kemp and Ellis back in the lineup, particulalry if we are able to sustain the level of pitching and get another bat.
Jon Weisman
NPUT