OH RICKEY, YOU'RE SO FINE IN DODGERS VICTORY DODGERS 8, ST. LOUIS 5.Byline: Rich Hammond Rich Hammond Los Angeles Daily News sports writer. Instrumental in bringing the Los Angeles Kings hockey organization closer to the fans. He is the atypical "what a guy" to Kings fans everywhere. Rich Hammond on himself. Staff Writer The Dodgers' first taste of a little Rickey Henderson Henderson, who has been instantly embraced by fans and teammates in his first week with the Dodgers, had two more hits Friday, including a third-inning solo home run. He helped spark the Dodgers' offensive resurgence in an 8-5 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals For the National Football League team that played in St. Louis from 1960 to 1987, see . The St. Louis Cardinals (also referred to as "the Cards" or "the Redbirds") are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. in front of 43,504 at Dodger Stadium • • [ . On a night when the Dodgers could have lost more ground to the National League West-leading San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California that currently play in the National League West Division. New York Giants history Early days and the John McGraw era and second-place 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. , they instead continued their run of offensive success with an impressive rally and have scored 21 runs in their past three games, all victories. ``What we saw tonight is what was minimal during the first half of the season,'' manager Jim Tracy said, ``and that is the offense contributing up and down the lineup. The two guys that have joined our lineup have added something to this team.'' Henderson made an impact, as did the team's other new addition, Jeromy Burnitz, who had a potentially devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. defensive miscue mis·cue n. 1. Games A stroke in billiards that misses or just brushes the ball because of a slip of the cue. 2. A mistake. intr.v. mis·cued, mis·cu·ing, mis·cues 1. in center field but also had two 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 singles. And even Shawn Green and Daryle Ward came through to bail out starting pitcher Kazuhisa Ishii. Ishii (9-3) had allowed three first-inning runs, no surprise since the early innings have been Ishii's downfall throughout his brief major-league career. St. Louis, which features the NL's most productive offense, didn't seem fooled by him. The Cardinals had leads of 4-2 and 5-3 in the early innings, which, given the Dodgers' offensive deficiencies in the first half of the season, would mean almost certain defeat. But somehow, things seem to have changed for the better, and the timely hits that escaped the Dodgers in the first three-plus months of the season seem to be arriving. The Dodgers trailed 5-3 going into the sixth, but Green led off with his second double of the game and later scored on Adrian Beltre's one-out sacrifice fly. The Dodgers then did some two-out damage, as Cesar Izturis and Ward had consecutive RBI singles for a 6-5 lead. ``The nine guys on the field, they do a great job,'' Ward said, ``but sometimes they need a little assistance.'' Burnitz drove in his second run as a Dodger when his seventh-inning single scored Green from second. Wilkin Ruan capped the scoring with an eighth-inning RBI double. Cardinals starter Brett Tomko allowed five runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings. Cal Eldred (3-3) took the loss in relief. The rally allowed Ishii to earn a victory despite a second consecutive poor outing. Ishii allowed five runs (four earned) in six innings, walked two and struck out five, and the Dodgers earned their fourth consecutive victory over the Cardinals, who are second in the NL Central. Eric Gagne pitched the ninth for his 33rd save. ``Obviously tonight didn't start out too well,'' Tracy said, ``and yet we have seen Kazuhisa Ishii time and time again after a situation like that, rectify himself and still be standing out there in the sixth inning.'' St. Louis wasted no time in jumping out to a 3-0 lead, as Jim Edmonds hit a two-run home run in the first and Albert Pujols followed with a solo homer. The Dodgers nearly pulled even in the first when Green doubled in Alex Cora and Burnitz's bloop bloop Baseball n. A blooper. tr.v. blooped, bloop·ing, bloops To hit (a ball) into the air just beyond the infield. adj. Hit just beyond the infield. single scored Green. The Cardinals pushed their lead to 4-2 in the third, when Pujols singled and then with two outs, Perez lined a single to center. Burnitz misread mis·read tr.v. mis·read , mis·read·ing, mis·reads 1. To read inaccurately. 2. To misinterpret or misunderstand: misread our friendly concern as prying. the ball, which bounced sharply in front of him, glanced off his arm and rolled deep into center field, allowing Perez to score. Rich Hammond, (818) 713-3611 rich.hammond(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) New Dodgers outfielder Rickey Henderson shoots out of the batter's box on a single Friday, en route to a 2-for-4 effort. Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer |
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