A TRIP WITH NO FUN DODGERS' 1-7 ROAD SWING ENDS ARIZONA 5, DODGERS 2.Byline: TONY JACKSON
Anthony (Antonio) Jackson, best known as Tony Jackson Staff Writer PHOENIX -- Two years ago, the Dodgers opened the second half of the season with a six-game road trip, beginning with four in what was then known as Bank One Ballpark. They promptly swept the hapless Arizona Diamondbacks This article is about the baseball team. For other uses, see Diamondback. The Arizona Diamondbacks (also referred to as the D-backs) are a Major League Baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They play in the West Division of the National League. , ran the table for the trip and rode the momentum to a National League West division title. This year, the Dodgers opened the second half with an eight-game swing that also included four in what is now known as Chase Field, even though it's the same building. But this time, the Diamondbacks aren't so hapless. And the Dodgers aren't so good. The Dodgers' latest indignity in·dig·ni·ty n. pl. in·dig·ni·ties 1. Humiliating, degrading, or abusive treatment. 2. A source of offense, as to a person's pride or sense of dignity; an affront. 3. came in the form of a 5-2 loss Thursay to the Diamondbacks in front of 25,294. With that, a road trip marked by heat, humidity and futility finally came to a merciless end, and the Dodgers packed what was left of their pride and boarded a charter flight home. In eight games since the break, four each at St. Louis and Arizona, they lost seven times, scored a total of 16 runs, saw two complete-game shutouts pitched against them, had both a pitcher and a catcher say publicly that they wanted to be traded because of how they were being used and, perhaps most disturbing of all, displayed no understanding whatsoever of the concept of intelligent, situational hitting. In losing to the Diamondbacks for the third time in the past four evenings, the Dodgers went 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position In the sport of baseball, a baserunner is said to be in scoring position when he is on second or third base. The distinction between being on first base and second or third base is that a runner on first can usually only score if the batter hits an extra base hit, while a runner on , including first-pitch double-play grounders by Jose Cruz Jose Luis Cruz (Cheo) can refer to different people:
All told, the Dodgers grounded into four double plays -- two of them by Garciaparra and all four of them on the first pitch. ``I think we're pressing as a team,'' said Dodgers pitcher Mark Hendrickson Mark Allan Hendrickson (born June 23, 1974 in Mount Vernon, Washington, U.S.) is an American professional athlete and is one of just 10 athletes to play in both Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association. , who is still winless in four starts since being traded from Tampa Bay Tampa Bay, inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, 25 mi (40 km) long and 7 to 12 mi (11.3–19 km) wide, W Fla., separated from the Gulf by numerous small islands; it receives the Hillsborough River. St. more than three weeks ago. ``It's not just one facet of the game. I think it's every facet. From a pitcher's standpoint, I don't think we're consistently getting deep into games and pitching the way we're capable of. ``You win as a team, and you lose as a team, and we're not playing well as a team, period.'' The Dodgers did run into arguably the National League's best young pitcher in Arizona ace Brandon Webb Brandon Tyler Webb (born May 9, 1979 in Ashland, Kentucky), is a National Major League Baseball starting pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks and was the 2006 National League Cy Young Award winner. Webb was a 1997 graduate of Paul G. Blazer High School in Ashland. . He held them to seven hits over eight stellar innings, recorded a stunning 18 groundball outs and struck out four. But Webb (11-3) also became the second Diamondbacks pitcher in a row to dominate the punchless Dodgers, after middling veteran Miguel Batista Miguel Descartes Batista Jerez (born February 19, 1971 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) is a Major League Baseball pitcher who plays for the Seattle Mariners. Over his career, Batista has played for seven teams and been utilized extensively as both a starter and a delivered a complete-game shutout on Wednesday. ``(Webb) was good,'' Dodgers manager Grady Little William Grady Little (born March 30, 1950 in Abilene, Texas) is a manager in Major League Baseball. He guided the Boston Red Sox from 2002 to 2003, and has been manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers since 2006. said. ``He was not the guy we needed to run up against when we're struggling like we have been offensively. He's not the guy we wanted to see. There were a couple of times where we had a chance, and he came up with the double-play ball. That was the story.'' Little tried juggling his lineup, and it worked to a point. The slumping J.D. Drew, batting second for the first time this season, went 3 for 4 and reached on an error by his brother, Diamondbacks rookie shortstop Stephen Drew, to drive in a meaningless run in the ninth. And Andre Ethier, batting cleanup for just the second time, went 2 for 4 with a double. It was telling, though, that neither Drew nor Ethier scored a single run. The Dodgers (47-49) fell two games below .500 for the first time since May 7. ``We just need to keep our heads up and keep playing hard,'' Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal said. Little's lineup shuffle worked about as well as general manager Ned Colletti's June 27 trade, which brought Hendrickson and catcher Toby Hall from the Devil Rays. A week after Hall complained that he had no future in Los Angeles and said his agent had asked the Dodgers to trade him someplace some·place adv. & n. Somewhere: "I didn't care where I was from so long as it was someplace else" Garrison Keillor. See Usage Note at everyplace. else, Hendrickson (0-3) gave up five runs on nine hits over 5 1/3 innings. With two outs in the second, Hendrickson walked Eric Byrnes. Orlando Hudson followed with an RBI RBI abbr. Baseball runs batted in Noun 1. rbi - a run that is the result of the batter's performance; "he had more than 100 rbi last season" run batted in single, giving Arizona a 3-1 lead. Then, in the sixth, Hendrickson threw what he later called ``one of the worst curveballs in the game'' to rookie Carlos Quentin, making his major-league debut. Quentin hit it to the front row in left field, making it 5-1. tony.jackson@dailynews.com (818) 713-3675 CAPTION(S): 3 photos, box Photo: (1 -- color) Arizona's Carlos Quentin, top, is greeted at home plate by Chad Tracy after Quentin's sixth-inning home run. (2) The Dodgers' Mark Hendrickson walks to the mound after giving up a homer to Arizona's Carlos Quentin. (3) Arizona shortstop Stephen Drew, right, throws to first after forcing out the Dodgers' Willy Aybar, left, to complete a double play Thursday. Paul Connors/Associated Press Box: DODGERS vs. ST. LOUIS -Tony Jackson |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion