DODGERS HAVEN'T LOST HOT SWING : DODGERS 6, PHILADELPHIA 3.Byline: Eric Noland Daily News Staff Writer Just wait, they all said. Wait until the Dodgers begin to approach their offensive potential. Then, it was assumed, many of the shortcomings A shortcoming is a character flaw. Shortcomings may also be:
The Dodgers, for example, might be able to overcome one of the hottest pitchers in the game. They might be able to mount a rally - or even two - in a close game. And they might be able to mask a rough-edged night by the L.A. defense, or a nervous start by their closer. All of these realities were realized Friday night as the Dodgers won their fourth game in a row, 6-3 over the Philadelphia Phillies “Phillies” redirects here. For other uses, see Phillies (disambiguation). The Philadelphia Phillies are a professional baseball team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. before the largest crowd at Dodger Stadium • • [ this season, a sellout of 54,304. And the Dodgers, who've agonized ag·o·nize v. ag·o·nized, ag·o·niz·ing, ag·o·niz·es v.intr. 1. To suffer extreme pain or great anguish. 2. To make a great effort; struggle. v.tr. through an awful lot of 3-2 losses this season, have to be thrilled with the warming trend their hitting attack is experiencing. Over the past three games, they have produced 21 runs, their highest such total over a similar span this year. The pattern for this team, however, has been two steps forward, one back. Accordingly, in the midst Adv. 1. in the midst - the middle or central part or point; "in the midst of the forest"; "could he walk out in the midst of his piece?" midmost of the Dodgers' prosperity, they suffered another injury to a key player. On a night when second baseman second baseman n. Baseball The infielder who is positioned near and to the first-base side of second base. Noun 1. second baseman - (baseball) the person who plays second base second sacker Delino DeShields
After suffering his injury in the Phillies' fifth inning, Gagne tried to run off the stiffness, and remained in the game for another out, but he was promptly lifted for Chad Fonville Chad Everette Fonville (born March 5, 1971, in Jacksonville, North Carolina) was a Major League Baseball infielder. Drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 11th round of the 1992 MLB amateur draft, Fonville would make his Major League Baseball debut with the Montreal when his batting position Batting position may refer to:
Gagne has already missed five games this season to a pulled hamstring, and the team was 2-3 without him. The severity of his latest injury was not immediately known. In spoiling the 6-0 start of Phillies rookie Mike Grace, the Dodgers went down in order over their first 10 at-bats, then began to pound on the right-hander when afforded a second look. More importantly, the Dodgers didn't let up any. They came back from an early 2-0 deficit to take a 3-2 lead. Later, they pulled away after the game was tied 3-3. And the slugging, following a recent trend, was spread around evenly. In the fourth inning, Mike Piazza Michael Joseph Piazza (born September 4, 1968 in Norristown, Pennsylvania) is an American Major League Baseball player who currently plays for the Oakland Athletics. He began his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers and played for the Florida Marlins, New York Mets, San Diego Padres accounted for the first hit off Grace - and the Dodgers' first runs - when he lined a two-run home run over the short fence in the right-field corner. Two batters later, Raul Mondesi sent a homer into the left-field pavilion. Mondesi's bat has been particularly robust lately. Over his past eight games, the Dodgers' right fielder is batting .382, with two home runs and five 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 . Two innings later, in breaking the 3-3 tie, the Dodgers collected hits from four players and pulled back into the lead with two runs. Rookie center fielder Roger Cedeno got both runs across with a single through the right side off Grace (6-1). Getting singles to reach base ahead of him were Mike Blowers and Gagne's replacement, Fonville. Still another player, Todd Hollandsworth, got L.A.'s final run home with an RBI single in the seventh. All of this helped make a winner of Hideo Nomo (6-3), who gave up eight hits over seven innings but also struck out nine batters. Todd Worrell allowed the first two batters of the ninth to reach base, but he worked out of trouble to earn his 10th save. Nomo, in running his record at home to 5-0, was successful in spite of some generally shoddy defense behind him. In the Phillies' two-run second, Cedeno misplayed Todd Zeile's drive off the wall in center, but the Dodgers still had a shot at Pete Incaviglia, who was lumbering from first, on a play at the plate. Gagne's relay throw arrived on a one-hop and in perfect position, but Piazza wasn't. The Dodgers catcher waited for the throw not in the baseline or in front of the plate, but behind it, and Incaviglia easily slid under the delayed tag. In the fifth, Lenny Dykstra got on with a single when DeShields was late reacting on a ball to his right. Two batters later, Gagne stumbled and hurt his ankle while chasing Jim Eisenreich's grounder up the middle. As Gagne sprawled, he couldn't knock the ball down, and Dykstra scored as it trickled into center field. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO The Phillies' Pete Incaviglia celebrates after scorin g on catcher Mike Piazza. Michael Owen Baker / Daily News |
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