Dodgers go quietly again in 2-1 loss to Brewers
That’s the way it’s going for the Dodgers these days. Make a mistake, and it proves costly. They can only count on strong starting pitching for so long.
The Dodgers got another strong starting effort Monday, this time by right-hander Jon Garland, but it again fell short in a 2-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.
A mistake cost Garland the game, but at least it was his own.
The score was tied 1-1 in the sixth inning when Corey Hart led off with a double. Garland got the next two outs and appeared ready to pitch out of trouble with pitcher Shaun Marcum up.
Only Garland walked him. Walked the opposing pitcher.
Always a major baseball no-no, this one made worse coming with two outs.
Which brought up Rickie Weeks, who had already singled and lined out with a drive left-fielder Jay Gibbons caught crashing into the wall.
Weeks promptly singled again, and the Brewers had their 2-1 lead.
The Dodgers have now lost three consecutive games, scoring a combined three runs in the defeats.
The Dodgers scored against Marcum (5-1) in the fourth inning on consecutive singles by Jamey Carroll and Aaron Miles, and a sacrifice fly by Matt Kemp.
The Dodgers had a couple of other prime chances, but the big hit continues to be as elusive as a Jonathan Broxton changeup.
Gibbons led off the fifth inning with a double, and didn’t advance a step.
Juan Uribe and James Loney led off the seventh with hits, and stood by silently while Marcum recorded three consecutive outs, including pinch-hitter Dioner Navarro on a pop fly. The weakness of the Dodgers' bench is pretty clear when Navarro is pinch hitting late in consecutive games.
Marcum left after seven innings, holding the Dodgers to one run on five hits and a walk with four strikeouts.
Which proved just a tad better than Garland’s six innings. He gave up two runs on seven hits and four walks, striking out one.
The score actually could have been tied 2-2 after nine innings, but for a home-run stealing catch by Milwaukee center fielder Carlos Gomez on a Uribe drive in the second inning.
Gomez sprinted back to the left-center wall, jumped at the last moment, gloved the drive just over the wall and pulled it back for a remarkable catch.
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Left field is a wasteland for team
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-- Steve Dilbeck
Photo: Dodgers first baseman James Loney makes a sliding catch on a pop fly by Milwaukee's Carlos Gomez in the first inning Monday night at Dodger Stadium. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times
Lifeless. Listless. Putrid. Boring. Lame. Pathetic from the very top to the very bottom. Worst organization in baseball by a mile. Sorry for the truth, but this is what it's come to, and none of it is any surprise.
Posted by: FormerLifelongDodgerFan | 05/16/2011 at 10:42 PM
This cannot get any better for Frank! I love it! I am Dodger Fan of 35 years and realize we have to get worse before we get better. Boycott Frank's horrible team! He must go!
Posted by: campc4 | 05/16/2011 at 10:56 PM
Just Don't Go.
Posted by: Native Angeleno | 05/16/2011 at 11:04 PM
The announced attendance was a lie. No way on Earth a Monday night game against the worst draw in the NL, Selig's old team Mil, pulls 35,000 paying cutomers.
Shieffer: Please investigate. When Friday and Saturday night games draw just over 30,000, this lie has no logic behind it. The books are so cooked you can chuck the turkey thermometer.
Posted by: Native Angeleno | 05/16/2011 at 11:29 PM
BOYCOTT EVERYTHING TO DO WITH THE DODGERS SO FRANKS SUFFERS!
Posted by: tede51 | 05/17/2011 at 12:18 AM
The great thing about being a Dodger fan who can't take it anymore and wants to end it all, you don't have to have the courage to kill yourself, all you have to do is sit in the bleachers at Dodger Stadium in a Giants uniform and you'll probably be dead before you can consume your first Dodger Dog.
Posted by: waus | 05/17/2011 at 12:24 AM
I'll never claim to be Walter Alston, but gee whiz, you're down 1 run, 7th inning and there are no outs with runners at first and second bases.
Gibbons - 2-for-14, 5 K, 1 RBI. Why is he not bunting the runners up? Barajas is actually a fly-ball scoring threat behind him, not to mention a possible DP. Makes no sense at all. Starved for runs and hits, and we play for an inning of hits?
Argument can be made our coaches aren't even practicing bunts. Check the list - two pitchers with 4 and 3, respectively, two part-time position players with 2 each and a pitcher with 2, and then 4 other guys with 1 each. That's it. This ain't the '77 lineup of Garvey, Smith, Baker and Cey. I'd have voted for Bills or Kershaw to go pinch-hit for Gibbons and bunt, rather than the strategy we tried and with which we failed so miserably.
Watching you Donnie. That's an egregious one.
Posted by: alanw19 | 05/17/2011 at 04:26 AM
The team of '58, yah I saw them play, was more exciting than this listless group, at least the '58 team was colorful and they actually had some life in them.
This club is embarrassing. Not to me, but to themselves.
They look foolish.
Not one player is not expendable, in my mind... and, once the club is sold to a new owner, Mr Ned is gone for sure.
Ah, the days of Bavasi and Campanis.... At least I , for one, experienced the good times in LA.
Posted by: waldobinney | 05/17/2011 at 06:26 AM
It is comforting to know that when the infusion of Fox money comes in McCrap isn't going to change a thing because "this is a very, very good ballclub." Delusional, pathetic, McCrap.
Posted by: KoufaxFan | 05/17/2011 at 06:59 AM
Who cares? Under McCourt, I've completely lost all of my passion for the Dodgers. You need to be able to recognize talent to acquire it, and Ned and company just can't do that, or they can, and just can't afford to do that. Either way it's pathetic. Why do you think that Kim Ng left when she had the chance. The Titanic is taking on water and sinking fast
Posted by: McCourt blows | 05/17/2011 at 07:48 AM
Am I the only one here who's taking a quiet pleasure in this team's ineptitude now?
Posted by: Dodgers R Irrelevant | 05/17/2011 at 08:21 AM
I love this team. It's great! Wouldn't have it any other way even if I had a ba-zillion dollars. Which I do. Bud just won't let me have it. Thanks for your support Dodger fans!
Posted by: Blank Frank | 05/17/2011 at 08:40 AM
Attendance will probably up tonight, due to the promotion, but people PLEASE stay away!
Posted by: campc4 | 05/17/2011 at 08:44 AM
This is painful stuff to watch anymore. I have followed the Dodgers since 1955 as a kid in grade school and this team is worse than the anemic teams in the late 1960s. You cannot go anywhere with a relief corps with an ERA of 4 something. A bunch of hitters who cannot move the runners with no outs and have averages lower than their weight. I agree that it would have been better for Mattingly to pinch hit with Kershaw or Billingsley when Gibbons came up.
At least Colletti only gave Ramirez 45 million instead of 100 million.
Posted by: barjo4 | 05/17/2011 at 08:57 AM