SO FAR, MERELY APRIL FOOLS.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI True, it's only April, but maybe that's not the consolation it might be for the underachieving Dodgers. Maybe that's the problem. The Dodgers are trapped in April. The Giants are playing as if it's still October. As if Kenny Lofton's flyball never came down and the World Series' bright lights never dimmed. Jason Schmidt Jason David Schmidt (born January 29, 1973 in Lewiston, Idaho) is a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers. On December 6, 2006 he, signed with the LA Dodgers,and received a three-year, $47 million contract. , the San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden pitcher who beat L.A. on Friday, talked about how his team is helped this year by its playoff success last year. ``A lot of guys found out they could take their games to another level,'' said Schmidt, one of those Giants who had experienced nothing but near and not-so-near misses before their run to the National League pennant. ``I'd heard people say, `You play in the postseason and you'll never be the same again.' That's true. You find out you've got more than you thought you had in you.'' Never mind half of the Giants' roster has turned over since they lost the seventh game of the World Series to the Angels. The holdovers are playing with pennant winners' confidence. The newcomers have picked up the swagger. Some Giants, like Barry Bonds Barry Lamar Bonds (born July 24 1964 in Riverside, California) is a left fielder for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball. He is the son of former major league All-Star Bobby Bonds, the godson of Hall of Famer Willie Mays, and a distant cousin of Hall of Famer Reggie , didn't need a postseason to remind them they're good. Others, like J.T. Snow, did. Snow batted .246 with six home runs and 53 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 in 2002, the worst full- season numbers of his career. Then he hit .407 in the World Series and a whole new world of possibilities opened up. He began Saturday night's game at Dodger Stadium • • [ atop the league with a .392 average and 21 RBI. ``I think guys found out how to play in the postseason,'' Snow said. ``I think in 1997 and 2000 (when the Giants went to the playoffs and lost), we tried too hard and were too tight. We found out you've got to go out and let your natural abilities take over.'' Now, with Dodger Stadium sold out Friday night and nearly so Saturday night, it is the Giants who look right at home in the huge-game atmosphere. The Dodgers look like a club that hasn't won a playoff game Noun 1. playoff game - one game in the series of games constituting a playoff game - a single play of a sport or other contest; "the game lasted two hours" playoff - any final competition to determine a championship in 14 years and, despite the division-title predictions from some corners (hello), you can't envision one in their immediate future. The result is Schmidt's 5-1 victory on Friday and Damian Moss' 9-3 win on Saturday, making the Giants a division-leading 15-2 this season and the Dodgers a tied-for-third-place 7-11. ``When you've got that confidence, anything can happen for you,'' Dodgers left fielder Brian Jordan Saturday, it even felt like San Francisco while the Giants were building their lead against Andy Ashby Among the Giants' five victories against the Dodgers in as many tries in 2003, it was Friday's that showed the psychological mismatch between the teams. The Giants were the big-time players making big plays in what was - at least for the desperate Dodgers - an early big game. Bonds, Snow and Jose Cruz Jose Luis Cruz (Cheo) can refer to different people:
The Dodgers' Alex Cora José Alexander (Alex) Cora (born October 18, 1975 in Caguas, Puerto Rico) is a utility infielder for the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball. University of Miami career (two) and Cesar Izturis made errors. The Giants bashed would-be Dodgers ace Kevin Brown The name Kevin Brown can refer to several different people, including the following:
The Dodgers played for one run and that's all they got. Trailing 3-0 in the first inning, the Dodgers got a leadoff single from Dave Roberts For other uses, see Dave Roberts (disambiguation). David Ray Roberts (born May 31, 1972 in Okinawa, Japan), is a Major League Baseball center fielder for the San Francisco Giants. , bringing up Adrian Beltre for his first appearance of the year in the lineup's No. 2 slot. Beltre, apparently dwelling on his failure to advance a runner from second to third base the night before, made sure he would move Roberts into scoring position by laying down a sacrifice bunt that hadn't been ordered by manager Jim Tracy. Roberts did come around to score on Shawn Green's grounder into left field, but Beltre's little-ball tactics were all wrong for a three-run game. The Dodgers haven't scored more than five runs in a game since their 8-0 victory in Arizona on opening day. They need to start something big. But the Giants are the ones thinking big right now. With few exceptions, like Jordan and Fred McGriff, the Dodgers' hitters lack the big-time experience to know they have good things in them. ``You wonder how these guys are going to adjust (after the team's bad start),'' Jordan said. ``Will they adjust, or will they keep trying too hard and get deeper in a hole?'' At this rate, they never make it out of April. CAPTION(S): box Box: Daily News/CBS 2/KCAL 9 SPORTS CENTRAL POWER RANKINGS - Doug Jacobs |
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