Game 98: Dodgers vs. St. Louis Cardinals 1:6

This is adding insult to injury. The one game the Dodgers seemed to have the best chances to win and the Dodgers offense was still missing in action. Against ex-Dodger Jeff Weaver, who had been struggling mightily this season, would have been an ideal time for the bats to awaken. They didn't. It causes one to face the reality that they probably won't re-awaken this season.

Maybe it was the fact that Jeff Weaver was back in comfortable, familiar surroundings. Or maybe he felt he had something to prove to both the Dodgers and Aaron Sele, who both faced Weaver earlier this season, on May 19 at Chavez Ravine, when the Dodgers beat Weaver and the Angels 16-3 with a nine-run sixth inning.

Those were the good ole days. When a run deficit never seemed to much to come back from. But here we are, and thoughts of 2003 come haunting me back.

"Getting to the sixth inning seemed like the 12th for me,"
Weaver said with a laugh. "My last two outings
were short stints. I need to get back to that innings-eater
that I usually am and get to the eighth inning.
I'd like to get deeper into the game, but that's
another step down the road.

"I felt a lot better as the game went on and started getting
those groundballs that I'm accustomed to," Weaver added.
"So I'll just take all the good things from tonight and hopefully
build on it. At times, I was throwing a few too many strikes.
When I was ahead in the count, I don't think I threw enough
`chase' pitches. But that's easily adjustable."

Dodgers right fielder J.D. Drew was not in the starting lineup because of a bruised right knee, which occurred when he was struck by Jeff Suppan's pitch his first time up in Friday night's 2-0 loss. He pinch hit with two outs and the bases loaded in the sixth after Josh Hancock relieved Weaver, and lined out to center field as Los Angeles left the bases loaded for the second time.

The lackluster Dodgers are 1-9 since the All-Star break and have been shut out three times during this stretch, including Friday night's series opener, when Suppan and two relievers held them to six hits. They called a players-only meeting after the game to try to sort everything out.

They get a big "F" for failing to sort things out.

Aaron Sele dropped to 6-4 on the season. He allowed five runs and six hits over four innings before he was removed for a pinch hitter. The right-hander, pitching in sweltering heat that plummeted to 92 degrees by gametime, did not strike out a batter and walked two.

"I was up in the zone, and everything they hit was a hanging
breaking ball," Sele said. "When you're playing a really good team
that's really hot, you've got to make better pitches than that.
Those pitches should have been hit where they were hit."

The Dodgers, who have totaled only 16 runs in 10 games since the break, got their only run during a 20-pitch first inning in which Weaver gave up singles to three of his first four batters. Nomar Garciaparra had an RBI single, but Cesar Izturis flied out with the bases loaded -- one pitch after a walk to Willy Aybar.

Why Cesar was even swinging is beyond me.

Some thoughts:

1) Looking, or should I say grasping, for anything good out of this game... It sure was nice to see Giovanni Carrara and Odalis Perez throw three scoreless innings between the two of them.

2) For an ex-leadoff hitter, it was truly sad to see Cesar Izturis swing at the first pitch--especially right after Weaver had walked the previous batter. Looks like a sign of frustration on his, and the Dodgers' part.