Game 9: Dodgers @ Pittsburgh Pirates 5:9

I once read a book entitled "Propensity for the long-ball". Don't remember the author, but I'm quite sure it was NEITHER Brett Tomko, nor Hong-Chih Kuo. On the other hand, perhaps our pitchers (with the noble exception of Brad Penny) should read it too? ;).

I'm not gonna rave about the simple observations - but yeah, we tend to lose leads (and games) on HRs lately. Why? Be my guest, here's a sample of interpretations put together by players and coaches:

(1) Inability to follow the gameplan:

"I strayed away from our game plan," explained Tomko. "A few
of their guys, I've had pretty good success with the last couple
of years. It's up to me to stick to what's been successful.
A couple of pitches I wish I had back."

(2) Locating pitches:

"On the pitch to Jack Wilson, he (Tomko) was supposed to go up
and in but left the ball middle-in," said (catcher) Sandy Alomar.
"On 0-2, you shouldn't give up a home run. We threw too many
strikes in those situations. He left one breaking ball up for
a home run. You have to keep them low in the zone. He just
missed a few locations, that's the bottom line."

(3) Lack of focus on the part of the bullpen:

"The bullpen hasn't been protecting the leads it's been given.
The relievers have to improve their first batter efficiency.
There's a lot of room for improvement." says pitching coach,
Rick Honeycutt.

(4) All of the above.

I tend to think that it's a combination of all of these factors. Good news: they can all be corrected. Bad news: they need to be corrected with most of our pitching staff. Reasons might differ from night to night, but the homerun ball is killing Dodgers almost every time out. I woud assume Rick is going to have his hands full in the next couple of days.

(5) I just love the incident with the broken phone in the dugout. Our coaches could not get through to the bullpen, when Tomko was struggling. They had to resort to waiving jackets and hats to get the relievers' attention. Funny :). If you did not catch it, let me know, I'll post a link to the story.

(6) Ok, we're closing out the four-game series against the Bucs this afternoon and really need to snatch that game from them to get the split. This would cheer Dodgers up before the Easter weekend series vs Giants at home. Trouble is Derek Lowe will be pitching on three days rest. He needs to go deep into the game (possibly seventh inning?) without the regular extra day off. Otherwise - it's the bullpen again. I really need to see Danys Baez pump his fist after the final out in the ninth today :) Fingers crossed.