DODGERS ROLL A LUCKY 7 DEFEAT ROCKIES CONVINCINGLY DODGERS 14, COLORADO 5.Byline: VINCENT VINCENT Vital Information Necessary Centralized (movie, The Black Hole) BONSIGNORE Staff Writer The Dodgers' list of things to do this month begins and ends with winning the National League West. Manager Grady Little's team hopes it took a sizeable step in that direction Saturday with a 14-5 victory over the Colorado Rockies For the National Hockey League team (1976 – 1982), now known as the New Jersey Devils, see . The Colorado Rockies are a Major League Baseball team based in Denver, Colorado. They are in the West Division of the National League. in front of a crowd of 48,984 at Dodger Stadium • • [ . Their seventh straight win moved the Dodgers a season-high 11games over .500 and kept them four games ahead of second-place San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. in the NL West. Just as importantly, it featured the re-emergence of Nomar Garciaparra's and J.D. Drew's power. Garciaparra has struggled through a severe hitting funk over the past two months, watching his average tumble from .358 to .312, hitting a meager mea·ger also mea·gre adj. 1. Deficient in quantity, fullness, or extent; scanty. 2. Deficient in richness, fertility, or vigor; feeble: the meager soil of an eroded plain. 3. .215 since the All-Star break. The hitting slump was in part due to a knee injury that sidelined him for two weeks between late July and early August. It might have been compounded by his initially overcompensating for the injury upon returning from the disabled list Aug. 9. Garciaparra looked perfectly fine in the third inning Saturday against Colorado starter Aaron Cook Aaron Lane Cook (born February 8, 1979 in Fort Campbell, Kentucky) is a right-handed Major League Baseball pitcher currently playing for the Colorado Rockies. He has played with the Rockies for his entire Major League career, spanning from 2002 onwards. , muscling a three-run homerun to center field that traveled an estimated 417 feet and gave the Dodgers a 5-0 lead. In the sixth, Garciaparra worked Colorado reliever Ramon Ramirez for a bases-loaded double into left field to drive in three more runs and put the Dodgers ahead 12-5. Garciaparra finished with the twohits and six RBIs. ``He put a lot of work (in the batting cage Noun 1. batting cage - a movable screen placed behind home base to catch balls during batting practice cage baseball equipment - equipment used in playing baseball ) with (hitting coach) Eddie Murray
Garciaparra agreed. ``You just try to put the work in, but you know sometimes it's there, and sometimes you hit the ball right at somebody, and you just don't find the hole,'' Garciaparra said. ``When that happens to take (the positive) of hitting the ball back to the dugout and hope for a better result the next at bat.'' Drew had 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 double in the second and a solo home run in the fifth to put the Dodgers ahead 7-0. Much like Garciaparra, Drew has struggled since the All-Star break, after which he has hit .255 with fivehome runs and 27 RBIs. Before then, he was hitting .288 with nine home runs and 50 RBIs. The seven-run lead should have been enough for starter Brad Penny Bradley Wayne Penny[1] (born May 24, 1978 in Blackwell, Oklahoma)[2] is a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball for the Los Angeles Dodgers.[3] Early career to cruise, but the right-hander couldn't get make it to the seventh. Colorado leadoff hitter In baseball, a leadoff hitter is a batter who bats first in the lineup. Strategy Leadoff hitters must possess certain traits to be successful: they must reach base at a proficient rate and be able to steal bases. Kaz Matsui started the sixth by outrunning a ground ball that ricocheted off Penny to set the stage for a five-run inning. The big blow came when Cory Sullivan drove a three-run double to deep center to pull the Rockies to within 7-5. Penny was pulled in favor of reliever Elmer Dessens, who got Clint Barmes to strike out and pinch-hitter Ryan Spilborghs to ground out to end the inning. Despite the sixth-inning stumble, Penny picked up his league-leading and career-high 15th victory and his fifth over the Rockies this year. It's the first time a Dodgers pitcher has won five games against Colorado in a single season, and it's the first time a Dodger has beaten an opponent five times in one year since Orel Hershiser did it against the Atlanta Braves in 1988. ``A lot of offense tonight,'' said Penny, who gave up nine hits and four earned runs. ``It's always nice to get that kind of run support.'' He has Garciaparra to thank most, although the rest of the offense chipped in as the Dodgers pounded out 15 hits, including James Loney's first career home run. ``It was nice because we did some great things as a team, and I think that was the biggest thing in how we played offensively,'' Garciaparra said. ``Stuff like moving runners over, hit-and-runs. That was the key.'' vincent.bonsignore@dailynews.com (818) 713-3612 CAPTION(S): 2 photos, box Photo: (1) Jeff Kent, right, runs home past Colorado catcher Yorvit Torrealba and scores on an infield groundball. (2) The Dodgers' Nomar Garciaparra hits a three-run home run off Colorado Rockies pitcher Aaron Cook in the third inning Saturday. Francis Specker/Associated Press Box: DODGERS VS. COLORADO |
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