Dodgers Dominated as Dee Departs Disastrously
August 9, 2011 at 10:13 pm | Posted in Cliff Lee, Dee Gordon | 24 Comments
That Cliff Lee was the most dominant pitcher on the mound tonight at Dodger Stadium came as little surprise. That he was also the best hitter on the field, well, that’s one you may not have seen coming. Lee’s day job first: over eight masterful innings, he struck out 10 while scattering just four harmless singles, two to Jamey Carroll (who attempted to give that goodwill back by making an error and whiffing on a grounder that really should have gone down as a second miscue). Demerit him for allowing Eugenio Velez to walk all you like, what we saw on the mound tonight was pure artistry.
On the other side of the ball, for all the jokes we have at Ted Lilly‘s expense, the veteran lefty was actually pretty solid against a good Phillies lineup. Lilly allowed just six hits and a walk over eight innings, which ties for his second-longest outing as a Dodger, and he even drilled Shane Victorino in the back for good measure. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Ted Lilly game if he didn’t allow a homer, and that’s how we get back to Lee, who took Lilly out to right field in the 7th inning. That made the score 2-0, though with the way Lee was pitching against the unimposing Dodger lineup, it might as well have been 200-0. (Casey Blake singled in Matt Kemp to cut it to 2-1 in the 9th, though that came against Ryan Madson).
So the Dodgers, with a lineup missing Juan Rivera (and just pause for a moment and try to realize that we live in a world where that’s a significant concern) lost to arguably the best left-handed pitcher in baseball. There’s no shame there, and no surprise either. But it’s also not close to being the most important outcome of the night, because the adventures with Dee Gordon‘s right shoulder continue.
Despite how serious Gordon’s injury looked after trying to chase down Kelly Johnson on Saturday, he missed just one full game, entering yesterday as a defensive replacement before starting tonight. In the 6th inning, he unsuccessfully attempted to bunt his way on, and in doing so attempted to evade first baseman Ryan Howard by diving around him, landing hard on his shoulder. Gordon could be seen shaking the shoulder repeatedly the following inning, as Vin Scully was sure to note. In the 8th, he came up against Lee, swinging hard at the second pitch and clearly re-injuring the shoulder. Gordon left the game immediately, thus putting Trent Oeltjen in the impossible situation of coming off the bench cold to face Lee, down 0-2. He grounded into a double play, because of course he did.
There’s no news yet on the severity of Gordon’s shoulder, but I can’t imagine he’ll play tomorrow – nor should he. While it’s certainly important to see if the raw Gordon can handle the 2012 job, it’s not as important as keeping his long-term health in mind. His shoulder, clearly, is not healthy, though since he’s held together by duct tape and chewing gum, perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise. With the season long over, the conservative route is the only way to play this.
24 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a Reply
How Many McCourt Sins?
MSTI on the web
MSTI Library
Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.
I felt bad for Oeltjen being forced in inheriting an 0-2 count against Cliff Lee. poor guy. he hasnt played much at all for the last few weeks.
what is with Don Mattingly’s idiotic obsession with bunting? hes got the whole team bunting almost every game. it seems like he just plays for 1 run every inning.
well I guess the more losses that mount up the more likly well see a new team next year. I think Mattingly is going to be fired at the end of the year anyways, I have a feeling.
Comment by format— August 9, 2011 #
I can’t blame Mattingly for inheriting the shit sandwich that Bernie gave him. It says a lot about Bernie that Miles is one of his top four pickups in the past two seasons, with Carroll, Hawksworth, and Rivera as the other three. Look at the rest of his acquisitions: Lilly, Theriot, Dotel, Podsednik, Barajas, Navarro, MacDougal, Guerrier, Garland, Uribe, Velez, Link, and Ely. Holy shit that is pathetic.
Comment by The Dude Abides— August 9, 2011 #
Colleti could have better luck picking players by picking names out of a hat. Hell a retarded monkey would do a better job than him
Comment by Tyler— August 9, 2011 #
It says a lot about Bernie that Miles is one of his top four pickups in the past two seasons, with Carroll, Hawksworth, and Rivera as the other three. Look at the rest of his acquisitions: Lilly, Theriot, Dotel, Podsednik, Barajas, Navarro, MacDougal, Guerrier, Garland, Uribe, Velez, Link, and Ely. Holy shit that is pathetic.
.
My God, I’d never seen a total listing. Pathetic, yes, but also super depressing, encapsulating as it does the damage this man has done to this team.
Comment by SC Dodger— August 10, 2011 #
We are so fucked. With every semi-decent play with the glove and every grounded that happens to make it through the infield, we are just that much closer ti a two year, $8MM extension for Aaron Miles. Fuck our lives.
Comment by @BrocNessMonster— August 9, 2011 #
Well, at least De Jesus finally had a good night down here: 4-for-5, three runs, grand slam, six RBI total.
Everybody else hit pretty well, too: http://www.examiner.com/baseball-in-albuquerque/isotopes-wake-up-and-swat-bees
(FedEx got his first single and his first double as a Tope; all of his hits prior to tonight were home runs)
Comment by Chris Jackson— August 9, 2011 #
Insert “He will be traded” type joke here _____________
Comment by DodgersKings323— August 10, 2011 #
Can someone like nuke this organization and just start over? It’s depressing to watch a game and know we don’t have a chance to win. Dee and Rubby going down is just another cherry on top of this shit sundae.
I don’t how we watch this team, but we do.
Comment by Juan Pierre— August 9, 2011 #
Because it may be Vinny’s last year
Comment by DodgersKings323— August 10, 2011 #
I went to the ravine tonight, fully expecting to watch Cliff Lee dominate, but it was worth the assured misery just to see Lilly plunk Victorino like a boss.
Comment by Paul Bakker— August 9, 2011 #
Yeah, I can’t say I was too sad to see that.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— August 10, 2011 #
Too bad we can’t expect Billingsley to put one in his ear hole! Or even on his Hawaiian ass.
Comment by SamAdams— August 10, 2011 #
All well and good, but how stung is Victorino by a blazing Ted Lilly heater to the back? It should take at least two of those to get to first base.
Comment by lWerthFan— August 10, 2011 #
Can we please get more of pitchers to nail Victorino? Can we please get a new league-mandated rule that for the rest of his career Victorino has to get hit by a pitch once every other game? Can we please appeal to the baseball gods that in addition to new and better ownership of the Dodgers, Victorino becomes the all-time leader in getting hit by a pitch?
Comment by Omer— August 10, 2011 #
That’s two homeruns allowed to opposing pitchers by Lilly this season.
Comment by Bip— August 9, 2011 #
dont forget Lilly’s homerun allowed to Mike Fontenot earlier this year. which is basically like giving up a homerun to a pitcher.
Comment by format— August 10, 2011 #
…and the one to Jason Bartlett in SD.
Comment by west coast ram— August 10, 2011 #
With Gordon’s injury I am already looking over the FA shortstop list for next year with the anticipation that Dee will not be healthy. Ronnie Cedeno not looking too bad. Cezar Izturis is very much a professional player I like on a team, very seasoned player. How about John McDonald, he can play short or second, maybe even a little outfield.
Comment by Ned Colletti— August 10, 2011 #
Ned, don’t forget about your boy Jack Wilson. You wanted him a couple years ago. He’s playing behind the immortal Brendan Ryan in Seattle. I think you could rescue him from the M’s for the small price of Jerry Sands.
Comment by Deuce— August 10, 2011 #
“Trading Sands for some mediocrity is our top priority.”
–NC
Comment by McColletti BeGone— August 10, 2011 #
Ned Colletti – (cums)
Comment by The Dude Abides— August 10, 2011 #
I was going to mention Jack Wilson, but I thought it might upset people too much.
Comment by Ned Colletti— August 10, 2011 #
Was this game a sign of how far James Loney has fallen in the eyes of management? With a pinch-hitting opportunity against the right hander, a gimpy Rivera is sent up instead of a (presumably) healthy Loney.
Comment by PJ— August 10, 2011 #
[...] on a botched rundown play in Arizona. He missed just one full game before re-injuring himself on August 9 against Philadelphia, first in attempting to avoid a Ryan Howard tag and then on a swing; he was [...]
Pingback by MSTI’s 2011 in Review: Shortstop « Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— October 13, 2011 #