Games 59-60: Dodgers vs New York Mets 8:5, 7:9
Well, a lot of mixed feelings here as I review the condensed games and boxscores from the final two games against the Mets.
One one hand a win in a star pitchers' game (Derek Lowe vs Pedro) always feels good. Putting six earned runs on the board against Martinez does not hurt either. Timely hitting and a six-run big inning (sixth) plus another huge HR by Matt Kemp helped overcome possibly the first meltdown by Jonathan Broxton this season. Game 2 win was closed by Eric Gagne who gave us a glimpse of how happy were used to be when "Mr. Game Over" was coming out of the gate fully healthy and more regularly. He struck out two while ten of his fourteen pitches were strikes.
On the other hand, even putting another six runs against another Met starter (Tommy Glavine) was clearly not enough to give the struggling Odalis Perez a win. Perez seemed to leave almost everything in the hittable area of the plate (53 of his 65 pitches were strikes), which is clearly one thing you avoid doing against a potent NY lineup. I do believe that relieving Perez with Jae Seo (another soft-tosser) might have worked against any Dodger momentum that they might have been building (LA answered to every Met run in the bottom halves of a given inning). I would have swapped Seo and Kuo to go after the Met batters with LHP fastball. Or go another way and give'em RHP relief power with Baez (what the heck!).
Anyway, there are some questions swirling in my mind as the team goes 6-7 against the NL East:
(1) Not playing Andre Eithier more often starts bothering me lately. I understand that Matt Kemp has surpassed him, but with JD Drew and Kenny Lofton needing an ocassional day off, Either should be playing more often in LF (I guess Kent can sub for Drew in RF from time to time?). Cruz is out of the mix for me as he does not bring to the table anything Either won't.
(2) I sustain a viewpoint that sooner will Seo regain his starting spot than Perez keep his. Bringing up Chad Billingsley for a 3-4 game extended look (two weeks) could not hurt. At the same time I'm all for biting the bullet and demoting Perez to Triple-A. I've had enough. Billingsley and Seo would then put some pressure on Tomko to live up to his salary as the fifth starter (Brett will pitch next at Coors, ouch!).
(3) It's very timely that Dioner Navarro is swinging the bat and off to his rehab assignment, 'cause Russell Martin is beginning to wear out on the edges. He's still more than adequate defensively, but his OPS is only slightly over .800 at the moment and going down.
(4) The Dodgers start a nine-game road trip in Colorado, where Brad Penny takes on Byung-Hyun Kim. We enjoyed some recent success against Kim in Denver and let's hope things will stay the same.
One one hand a win in a star pitchers' game (Derek Lowe vs Pedro) always feels good. Putting six earned runs on the board against Martinez does not hurt either. Timely hitting and a six-run big inning (sixth) plus another huge HR by Matt Kemp helped overcome possibly the first meltdown by Jonathan Broxton this season. Game 2 win was closed by Eric Gagne who gave us a glimpse of how happy were used to be when "Mr. Game Over" was coming out of the gate fully healthy and more regularly. He struck out two while ten of his fourteen pitches were strikes.
On the other hand, even putting another six runs against another Met starter (Tommy Glavine) was clearly not enough to give the struggling Odalis Perez a win. Perez seemed to leave almost everything in the hittable area of the plate (53 of his 65 pitches were strikes), which is clearly one thing you avoid doing against a potent NY lineup. I do believe that relieving Perez with Jae Seo (another soft-tosser) might have worked against any Dodger momentum that they might have been building (LA answered to every Met run in the bottom halves of a given inning). I would have swapped Seo and Kuo to go after the Met batters with LHP fastball. Or go another way and give'em RHP relief power with Baez (what the heck!).
Anyway, there are some questions swirling in my mind as the team goes 6-7 against the NL East:
(1) Not playing Andre Eithier more often starts bothering me lately. I understand that Matt Kemp has surpassed him, but with JD Drew and Kenny Lofton needing an ocassional day off, Either should be playing more often in LF (I guess Kent can sub for Drew in RF from time to time?). Cruz is out of the mix for me as he does not bring to the table anything Either won't.
(2) I sustain a viewpoint that sooner will Seo regain his starting spot than Perez keep his. Bringing up Chad Billingsley for a 3-4 game extended look (two weeks) could not hurt. At the same time I'm all for biting the bullet and demoting Perez to Triple-A. I've had enough. Billingsley and Seo would then put some pressure on Tomko to live up to his salary as the fifth starter (Brett will pitch next at Coors, ouch!).
(3) It's very timely that Dioner Navarro is swinging the bat and off to his rehab assignment, 'cause Russell Martin is beginning to wear out on the edges. He's still more than adequate defensively, but his OPS is only slightly over .800 at the moment and going down.
(4) The Dodgers start a nine-game road trip in Colorado, where Brad Penny takes on Byung-Hyun Kim. We enjoyed some recent success against Kim in Denver and let's hope things will stay the same.
posted by Harry | 11:50 AM
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