WEAVER GLAD TO BE BACK FORMER DODGER DOMINATES L.A., WHICH FALLS AGAIN ST. LOUIS 6, DODGERS 1.Byline: TONY JACKSON
Anthony (Antonio) Jackson, best known as Tony Jackson Staff Writer Twenty minutes after the Dodgers' latest disaster, a 6-1 loss to 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 50,438 Saturday night at Dodger Stadium • • [ , the door to the locker- room area of the clubhouse remained closed in what presumably pre·sum·a·ble adj. That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. was a players-only meeting. Down the hall, in the manager's office, a flummoxed 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. wasn't complaining about the fact he hadn't been invited. ``I'm about met out,'' he said. ``It's time It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a for somebody to do something.'' It would help if they did it with a runner or two in scoring position. The Dodgers lost for the ninth time in 10 games after the All-Star break. That six of those losses have come against the vastly superior Cardinals -- a team whose utter domination of the Dodgers over the past three seasons includes a four-game National League Division Series wipeout twoautumns ago -- only slightly mitigated the complete offensive ineptitude Ineptitude See also Awkwardness. Brown, Charlie meek hero unable to kick a football, fly a kite, or win a baseball game. [Comics: “Peanuts” in Horn, 543] Capt. Queeg incompetent commander of the minesweeper Caine. of a Dodgers team that entered the break as the NL's best-hitting club. This time, it was former teammate Jeff Weaver they couldn't hit. The same Weaver who could have stayed for a third season with the Dodgers for more than the $8.325 million guarantee he got from the Angels if he had agreed to it before the deadline. The same Weaver who pitched so badly for the Angels that he was designated for assignment Designated for assignment is a contractual term used in Major League Baseball. When a player is designated for assignment, he is immediately removed from the club's 40-man roster. to make room for his kid brother and eventually traded to the Cardinals. The same Weaver who entered this game with a combined 6.60 ERA for the two clubs he has pitched for. The same Weaver who held the hapless Dodgers to a run on six hits over 5 2/3 innings. ``I'm trying to be as positive as I can,''Little said. ``We'll keep reaching deeper until we find something that works. But each individual has to look at himself and reach down to get a little extra.'' Since the All-Star break, the Dodgers (47-51) are batting a putrid putrid /pu·trid/ (pu´trid) rotten; putrefied. pu·trid adj. 1. Decomposed; foul-smelling; rotten. 2. Proceeding from, relating to, or exhibiting putrefaction. .133 (0 for 75) with runners in scoring position. Over the past four games, a stretch that includes two shutouts and a grand total of three runs, they have gone 9 for 55 in such situations. ``We have done a little bit of hitting since the All-Star break,'' said Little, with emphasis on the words little and bit. ``But we haven't done a whole lot of clutch hitting with people in scoring position.'' Aaron Sele (6-4) wasn't good, allowing five runs on six hits over four innings, but it was almost a moot point moot point n. 1) a legal question which no court has decided, so it is still debatable or unsettled. 2) an issue only of academic interest. (See: moot) on a night when the Dodgers stranded 11 baserunners, seven of them in scoring position, and left the bases loaded twice. The Dodgers made their only noise against Weaver in the first inning after Sele retired the side in order in the top half. After Rafael Furcal foolishly and unsuccessfully tried to bunt his way aboard to begin the inning, Kenny Lofton lined an infield single off Weaver's derriere. Nomar Garciaparra followed with a single to left, snapping an 0-for-7 skid. And sizzling siz·zle intr.v. siz·zled, siz·zling, siz·zles 1. To make the hissing sound characteristic of frying fat. 2. To seethe with anger or indignation. 3. rookie Andre Ethier gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead with another single to left, scoring Lofton. But even though Weaver eventually would walk Willy Aybar, the Dodgers wound up leaving the bases loaded when Jose Cruz Jr. flied out to right field. And that was when the real tone for the evening was officially set. The lead didn't last. Jim Edmonds' one-out homer in the top of the second tied the score. The Cardinals scored two more in the third on -- what else? -- a two-run homer by Albert Pujols. And the game got away in the fourth, when Juan Encarnacion and Scott Spiezio began the inning with back-to-back doubles, Yadier Molina singled and Weaver grounded into a double play to score Spiezio, making it 5-1. Chris Duncan hit his third homer in six games against the Dodgers this season, making it 6-1 in the sixth. tony.jackson@dailynews.com (818) 713-3675 CAPTION(S): 2 photos, box Photo: (1) St. Louis starter Jeff Weaver (Simi Valley High) held the Dodgers to one run and six hits in 5 2/3 innings. (2) Aaron Sele walks back to the mound after giving up a two-run homer to St. Louis' Albert Pujols. Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer Box: DODGERS vs. ST. LOUIS - Tony Jackson |
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