Dodgers take another as Giants defense falters once again
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Take heart, ye Dodgers faithful. Reason for hope is out there. Reason to believe things in the National League West are subject to change.
The Giants could have big trouble defending their crown.
Because defensively, the Giants are what you might call highly questionable. Their current outfield corners, Pat Burrell and Aubrey Huff, are not likely to be nabbing any Gold Gloves this season. They have a less-than-fleet third baseman in Pablo Sandoval, a rookie first baseman in Brandon Belt and a 36-year-old shortstop in Miguel Tejada.
And though just a mere two games into the season, the Giants are throwing the ball around.
They did in dropping Thursday’s season opener, and they were back at it again Friday, a pair of throwing errors helping the Dodgers to a 4-3 comeback victory.
The Dodgers made one error of their own -- Marcus Thames doing nothing to discourage questions about his defensive prowess by simply dropping a Sandoval fly in the sixth -- but it did not prove costly.
The Dodgers, however, have made the Giants pay for their miscues. But then, they have been plentiful. The Giants have committed five errors in the season’s first two games.
The Giants were up 3-1 on a Belt three-run homer off Chad Billingsley in the fourth, when the ball once again got all tricky for San Francisco.
The Giants’ undoing began in the sixth when Matt Kemp -- who had doubled in the Dodgers’ first run in the third -- led off with a single. Thames then bounced to Sandoval at third.
Kemp, however, was running on the pitch and was already at second when Sandoval threw. With his ground-churning huge strides, Kemp alertly kept going and went to third on the groundout. He then scored on a James Loney sacrifice fly.
Rod Barajas singled with two out. Aaron Miles beat out his chopper to Sandoval, who threw the ball past Belt for an error that advanced both runners. Pinch-hitter Hector Gimenez sent a bouncer back to Jonathan Sanchez that the left-hander simply dropped for another error as Barajas scored the tying run.
Rafael Furcal’s single off Guillermo Mota scored Miles and the Dodgers had their one-run victory, with a little help from that San Francisco defense.
-- Steve Dilbeck