Stephen Strasburg A Fine Opening Act, But Dodgers Headliners Tuesday In DC
by Eric Stephen on Sep 6, 2011 8:20 PM PDT
in Dodgers Game Recaps
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Stephen Strasburg provided a wonderful opening act, but the Dodgers won the main event thanks to Andre Ethier and Rod Barajas, giving the Dodgers a 7-3 win over the Nationals on a rain-soaked night in Washington DC.
Juan Rivera singled with one out in the top of the eighth inning, then pinch runner Tony Gwynn Jr. stole second base. The rally looked dead when Gwynn was erased at third base on Andre Ethier's ground ball to shortstop, but Aaron Miles singled to extend the inning for Barajas. The catcher, who turned 36 on Monday, lined a ball down the left field line to score both Ethier and Miles, rather easily as both were running off the bat with two outs.
Ethier, who already had a two-run single to tie the game in the sixth inning, drove in two more in the ninth inning to blow the game open. It may have been a three-run double for Ethier, but Rick Ankiel and Danny Espinosa both fired lasers to throw out Gwynn at the plate, Gwynn's second out on the bases in as many inning.
Kenley Jansen, destroyer of worlds, hit Jayson Werth in the seventh inning but struck out the other three men he faced, and picked up his second win of the season.
The Nationals had four different players make their major league debut on Tuesday night, all of whom were called up earlier in the day. Brad Peacock allowed one run on four hits, including the game-tying two-run single by Ethier in the sixth inning, in 1 1/3 innings. Southpaw Atahualpa Severino struck out James Loney, the only man he faced, to end the seventh inning. Infielder Stephen Lombardozzi walked to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning in his first major league plate appearance, but was stranded on third base thanks largely to Justin Sellers, who made a tremendouse leaping grab of a would-be RBI single by Chris Marrero.
The play by Sellers saved Mike MacDougal's ERA yet again, and prompted two nearly simultaneous tweets, proving that great minds think alike:
What a sweet leaping grab by Justin Sellers. Saved some Mike MacDougal baconless than a minute ago via TweetDeck 
Favorite 
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Eric Stephen
truebluela
Justin Sellers jsut saved Mike MacDougal's bacon there.less than a minute ago via Digsby Favorite Retweet Reply
Mike Petriello
MikeSciosciasTI
The fourth Nationals MLB debut was made by Corey Brown, who flew out with the bases loaded to end the game. Javy Guerra, who hadn't pitched since Saturday, was brought in for a non-save situation, with a 7-3 lead in the ninth inning, and he made it interesting, loaidng the bases. However, Guerra struck out Jayson Werth and Mike Morse before retiring Brown to finish it.
Eugenio Velez grounded out in the ninth inning, running his Dodgers totals to 0-for-31, and extending his overall futility streak to 0-for-40 dating back to last season, just five at-bats shy of tying the major league record for a position player.
Dodgers pitchers combined for 17 strikeouts Tuesday night, a new season high, surpassing the 15 punchouts against Arizona on May 13.
Dana Eveland pitches in the third game of the series Wednesday night, again weather permitting. Chien-Ming Wang gets the start for the Nationals.
WP - Kenley Jansen (2-1): 1 IP, 1 HBP,3 strikeouts
LP - Henry Rodriguez (3-3): 1 IP, 3 hits, 2 runs
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I had to explain what a dutch rudder was to my mom on my birthday
it was awkward
I pitched to Matt Kemp, and all I got was this stupid earned run.
it got dicey, but once again
Javy Guerra showed what he’s got
"Heroes get remembered, but Legends never die."
I do like
how I had the same thought that Jon and probably Mike and Eric did when the Dodgers got 17 strikeouts.
Ramon Martinez.
glad i got to watch a replay of that game
just wish it had been Vin on the broadcast. It was a Superstation broadcast so naturally it was the Braves crew.
"Heroes get remembered, but Legends never die."
by Tommy Blackjack on Sep 6, 2011 8:31 PM PDT up reply actions
since Eveland is starting tomorrow
might FedEx get the start? He’s caught him in AAA before right?
"Heroes get remembered, but Legends never die."
Federowicz caught Eveland at least twice, on August 2 and August 7. One other possible game, on August 19. Checking.
I think it's about time
for a top 10 video of Sellers’ defensive plays in his short time with the Dodgers!
Wait till next year...
It almost looks like a photo from a father and son game
@TElciram
by Taylor Maricle on Sep 6, 2011 9:04 PM PDT reply actions 5 recs
@dodgerthoughts:
Kenley Jansen struck out side, currently 2nd all-time in single-season K/9 at 15.04 (min 40 innings) bit.ly/npjLwo #dodgers #mlb
before tonight, Kimbrel was higher than Jansen for 5th all time (Jansen 6th). Now, Jansen is 2nd behind 2010 Marmol and just ahead of 2003 Eric Gagne.
@RB_GScott
Jansen the catcher
now seems but a distant memory
WOW
by 68elcamino427 on Sep 6, 2011 9:24 PM PDT up reply actions
Man Carlos Beltran is finally hot for the Giants. Hopefully too little too late for them
but Dodgers need to be careful with him next weekend.
There's no need to fear, Underdog is here! / Broncos/Dodgers/Lakers fan in Niners/Raiders/Giants/Warriors country, and damned proud of it.
My guess
Gordon SS
Loney 1B
Kemp CF
Ethier RF
Miles 3B
Sands LF
Federowicz C
Sellers 2B
by Eric Stephen on Sep 6, 2011 10:00 PM PDT up reply actions
I was thinking Ellis would get paired with Billingsley (though not a personal catcher, wink wink Donnie) on Thursday, but it was really just a total guess.
Wouldn’t surprise me if any of the three catchers started. :)
by Eric Stephen on Sep 6, 2011 10:25 PM PDT up reply actions
Holy crap, Casilla is imploding in 9th for Giants. Were up 6-3. Now 6-4
but he hit two straight batters and then walked the next, bases loaded. But two outs.
There's no need to fear, Underdog is here! / Broncos/Dodgers/Lakers fan in Niners/Raiders/Giants/Warriors country, and damned proud of it.
giants hang on, ramirez gets guzman to K to end it. Giants gain a game in their fruitless hunt for playoff spot.
There's no need to fear, Underdog is here! / Broncos/Dodgers/Lakers fan in Niners/Raiders/Giants/Warriors country, and damned proud of it.
is it just me or...
does it seem weird to everyone else that washington keep kinsler batting leadoff?
GScott, I wonder if you read this article from this past March re Strasburg's delivery
Verducci thinks that it’s not the inverted W per se which is the flaw, but rather that the ball isn’t in the ready position to be released when his stride foot hits the ground, and the reason is that his inverted W windup has taken too long to get the ball to the release point.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/tom_verducci/03/08/stephen.strasburg.mechanics/index.html
by The Dude Abides on Sep 7, 2011 12:18 AM PDT reply actions
Therefore, too much stress is placed on the elbow and shoulder if the stride foot hits the ground too early in the motion.
by The Dude Abides on Sep 7, 2011 12:20 AM PDT up reply actions
I haven’t read the article, but there are a slew of things that could cause the arm not to be in a position to accelerate smoothly to the release point, any number of which will put undue stress on any number of small areas of the body. Pitchers are known for hurting elbows and shoulders, but you could do serious damage to your ankles, knees, hips, abs, back if you’re in the wrong position at the wrong time. The problem is, it’s not like if you do it wrong once it’s going to hurt you. The problem is doing it over and over again, putting that strain in odd places without noticing it until you unknowingly reach a sort of breaking point. The Inverted W is just one of many ways to jack up your timing, with the ball raising the arm (as opposed to the arm raising the ball) are just two of the more glaring ones. Certainly not having your arm in the proper position when your foot hits the ground is a big issue as well, but no more than say, not being in a good balance point.
@RB_GScott
Tony Gwynn taking some baserunning tips from Larry Bowa
TOOTBLAN x2
The more you drink, the less gruesome I look.
Writing and inciting at Barca Blaugranes
Troll @shadowking011
because someone asked
this is part of a very long and very interesting article behind KLAWs paywall on ESPN
“83 percent of the pitchers who have Tommy John surgery make it back to their pre-injury levels of velocity and command, while only 4 percent of the 743 patients they followed or contacted reported major complications.”
if you are an insider, I recommend the read
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