Ted Lilly Gives Dodgers A Win In Jerry Sands' MLB Debut
by Eric Stephen on Apr 18, 2011 10:28 PM PDT
in Dodgers Game Recaps
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For the second consecutive game, the Dodger Stadium crowd (announced Monday as 28,292 tickets sold) was energized by a young Dodger outfielder and a great performance from the Dodgers' starting pitcher. Once again, the outfielder and starter, Jerry Sands and Ted Lilly in this case, provided a win for the Dodgers, 4-2 over the Atlanta Braves tonight, and allowed the struggles of closer Jonathan Broxton to be swept under the rug.
Sands made his major league debut tonight, and the crowd was ready for him. Of course, by the time Sands batted in the first inning -- he was slated seventh in tonight's batting order -- the Dodgers already had a 3-0 lead. Sands whacked a double down the right field line to open his career, off Tim Hudson. Sands added a sacrifice fly in the third inning to give the Dodgers a 4-0 lead.
Lilly had is best start of the season tonight, pitching seven scoreless innings. He threw strikes all night -- 66 of his 97 pitches were strikes -- and allowed just six baserunners while striking out six Braves. Lilly and Billingsley are just the fifth pair of Dodgers to throw seven or more scoreless innings on back-to-back days in the last 10 seasons:
| Back-To-Back Dodger Starters With 7+ Scoreless Innings | ||
| Dates | Pitcher 1 | Pitcher 2 |
| Sunday/Monday | Chad Billingsley (8 IP) | Ted Lilly (7 IP) |
| July 21-22, 2010 | Chad Billingsley (9 IP) | Hiroki Kuroda (8 IP) |
| September 14-15, 2008 | Greg Maddux (7 IP) | Hiroki Kuroda (7 IP) |
| September 12-13, 2003 | Wilson Alvarez (9 IP) | Kevin Brown (7 IP) |
| August 1-2, 2002 | Odalis Perez (7 IP) | Andy Ashby (7 IP) |
| Since 2001 | ||
Broxton Less Than Sharp
Broxton entered the game in the top of the ninth with a 4-0 lead, and he struggled. He labored, throwing 25 pitches, and allowed two runs on three hits, including two doubles. Broxton was bailed out when Freddie Freeman ended his eight-pitch at-bat by swinging at what looked like ball four. The ensuing groundout brought home a run, but it also netted a precious out. Broxton did strikeout two batters, so it wasn't all bad.
There wasn't much wrong with Broxton's Sunday outing. Matt Holliday doubled, and the RBI single by Freese was just a blooper to right field, but the fact is Broxton would have faced a load of criticism had Matt Kemp not homered in the bottom of the inning. That, coupled with tonight's outing, and the few home runs Broxton has allowed so far this season...let's just say he's been less than sharp so far. In 7 1/3 innings so far this season, Broxton has allowed 10 hits, including three doubles and two home runs, and two unintentional walks while striking out five.
Is it a cause for concern going forward? Yes. Has it cost the Dodgers any games yet? No.
Notes
- Andre Ethier blooped a single to left field in the bottom of the seventh inning, extending his hitting streak to 15 games, which is a season high in MLB this season. During his hitting streak, which began in the third game of the season, Ethier is hitting .404/.469/.526
- Sands is one of 18 Dodgers since to have an extra-base hit and an RBI in his MLB debut
- Before tonight, the last Dodger to get a base hit in his first major league plate appearance was Blake DeWitt, who singled in his first PA on March 31, 2008
- Matt Guerrier pitched a scoreless eighth inning, pushing his season totals to 8 2/3 scoreless innings (he has allowed one inherited runner, out of five, to score), with five strikeouts and two walks. Guerrier has retired 25 of the 31 batters he has faced this season.
- As pointed out by David Young, tonight was the first game of the season that Juan Uribe and James Loney have had back-to-back hits. They entered the night hitting a combined .152/.200/.214, but they each had two hits in four at-bats on the night.
- The Dodgers have scored four runs or less in 13 of 17 games this season, tied with the Twins, Mariners, and Braves for the most games in MLB. After tonight's game, the Braves are now the lowest scoring team in the NL, with one run fewer than the Dodgers.
- Hiroki Kuroda will face Brandon Beachy Tuesday night in the second game of the series.
WP - Ted Lilly (1-2): 7 IP, 4 hits, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts
LP - Tim Hudson (2-2): 6 IP, 6 hits, 4 runs, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts
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Matt Guerrier pitched a scoreless eighth inning, pushing his season totals to 8 2/3 scoreless innings (he has allowed one inherited runner, out of five, to score), with five strikeouts and two walks. Guerrier has retired 25 of the 31 batters he has faced this season.
Allow me to talk crazy for a moment. Say Broxton continues to struggle. Let’s further say there is a high-profile blown save that comes after increasingly poor performance, and at that point, there is call for Broxton to be demoted. If Gurrier keeps this up, is Matt Gurrier the closer?
magnae clunes mihi placent, nec possum de hac re mentiri.
quis enim, consortes mei, non fateatur
Also, when I get a chance to breathe, I owe this site four limericks. Holy crap, better get on that before I get further behind.
magnae clunes mihi placent, nec possum de hac re mentiri.
quis enim, consortes mei, non fateatur
by Humma Kavula on Apr 18, 2011 10:37 PM PDT up reply actions
If Kuo is still on the DL, and unless Jansen makes some sort of a great run, I believe they would turn to Guerrier before anyone else, yes.
by Eric Stephen on Apr 18, 2011 10:40 PM PDT up reply actions
Realistically, now that Broxton seems like he won't be recovering to '09 form....
Do we try to net Heath Bell at the deadline if we’re still close?
by Taylor Maricle on Apr 18, 2011 10:39 PM PDT reply actions
Not a chance
Trading for a “proven closer” would cost a pretty penny, and getting one from the Padres of all teams would cost even more. Tack on the fact that this team has bigger problems then the closer position, and you’re looking at shelling out 2-3 good to great prospects to get a guy who likely doesn’t help this team much.
That said
…it sounds exactly like something Ned would do, so I hope the team is hopelessly out of the race by the trade deadline, or has filled the closer role in-house (Broxton bouncing back or otherwise).
Ned with some really high praise of Sands on Dodger Talk
"Champions last year," he said. "Not this year." - Rubby De La Rosa after shaming the Giants in ST
Great character, scouts all loved him, Sands has confidence in himself and he won’t get down or change his approach if he struggles.
by Eric Stephen on Apr 18, 2011 10:56 PM PDT up reply actions
oop
beat me to it. What Eric said
"Champions last year," he said. "Not this year." - Rubby De La Rosa after shaming the Giants in ST
go to more!
"Champions last year," he said. "Not this year." - Rubby De La Rosa after shaming the Giants in ST
I laughed too hard at myself to confine this to just Twitter
“Show us your hits!” RT @dylanohernandez D.Mattingly on the Springer-esque chants for Jerry Sands: “We’ll have Jerry Beads flying out there”
Well done sir
"Champions last year," he said. "Not this year." - Rubby De La Rosa after shaming the Giants in ST
Hah. Tim Hudson apparently sent Jerry a ball saying something to effect of no hard feelings for that throw
"Champions last year," he said. "Not this year." - Rubby De La Rosa after shaming the Giants in ST
Sorry, Humma
Denizen of Lilliput Tim Collins got lit up tonight.
"It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great."
I think we know what u gotta do the rest of the way
Glad u went?
"Champions last year," he said. "Not this year." - Rubby De La Rosa after shaming the Giants in ST
It
Is always fun to go to a game that you had no plan of going to when the day started. Also great to see it with Phil and HJ.
by bhsportsguy on Apr 18, 2011 11:18 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Must be especially good when it features a prospect many of us have been excited about for a while
"Champions last year," he said. "Not this year." - Rubby De La Rosa after shaming the Giants in ST
It is funny
I mean Sands became a real possibility of coming up less than a year ago. Whereas the one player that I was most excited to see for the longest time was Kershaw.
by bhsportsguy on Apr 18, 2011 11:27 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
BTW
Must apologize to HJ, Sands double was not a flop shot into RF.
by bhsportsguy on Apr 18, 2011 11:30 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
yeah
That one was pretty special. I was so stoked when he finally got up here
"Champions last year," he said. "Not this year." - Rubby De La Rosa after shaming the Giants in ST
Aight gnite all
Awesome win and pretty darn good debut for the Sandman. Cant wait for more tomorrow.
"Champions last year," he said. "Not this year." - Rubby De La Rosa after shaming the Giants in ST
I agree that Jerry Sands is probably ready for MLB playing time, but let’s not give him the ROY and MVP yet. He is not the answer to all the questions. It would be nice if he were to become this year’s Buster Posey, but why don’t we let him get used to the MLB pitchers. I think DX2 put him in a perfect spot in the lineup for his debut, and he will continue to play and learn the ropes.
We have all seen a guy come up and go around the league once and tear it up, only to find that the scouts are now finding his weaknesses and he can’t get a pitch to hit the second time around. That’s just the way it works.
I’m all for praising him and building up his confidence, but you can’t get too high and you can’t get too low. Keep an even keel and he will become the player we would like him to be. Need to give him some time.
Baseball is a game, and games are supposed to be fun.
I can't believe I missed Springer Night at Dodger Stadium
Loney better keep hitting
Angelofdeath? Ringing any bells? He's dead.
"A wedding is a funeral where you smell your own flowers"
Barca Blaugranes
I knew you guys would love him :)
Random Ramblings from a Somewhat Scattered Mind
"It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time." --Sir Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965)
Zach Lee's stats look sick so far
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=P&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=545346
21 strikeouts in only 14 innings so far with a low 1 ERA. If he has somewhere in the 2 or low 3s ERA and around 8+ k/9 at what point does he get promoted to AA? July maybe?
"If we hit that bull's eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate"
Lee is starting at Dodger Stadium on Friday, April 29.
by Eric Stephen on Apr 19, 2011 5:03 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Jumping a guy that’s already young for his league two levels seems…enthusiastic.
@andrewngrant
by regfairfield on Apr 19, 2011 5:13 AM PDT up reply actions
I don’t see our top pitching prospect (him or rubby actually) going to hi a
"If we hit that bull's eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate"
by Ivdown on Apr 19, 2011 4:35 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
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