Unfortunately for Ted Lilly and the Dodgers, regression to the mean was particularly painful today resulting in an 10-5 Dodger loss in Colorado. Lilly entered the contest with a 5-0 record and an ERA of 1.83 in his short time with the Dodgers which significantly outpaced his FIP and x-FIP. As such, the trip to Coors Field was too much for Lilly as he surrendered 7 earned runs in 4.0 innings of work today. Interestingly, in plate appearances not resulting in extra base hits, Lilly was dominant, racking up 8 K's in the 4.0 innings of work.
Carlos Gonzalez was easily the MVP of this match. Gonzalez was locked in today hitting 2 homeruns, a sacrifice fly, and a single in 4 at bats. Ryan Spilborghs also added a homerun later in the contest off Dodger reliever Ronald Belisario.
The Dodger bats attempted to keep up with Rockies sluggers, but a late rally fell short. The Dodgers recorded 13 hits with Scott Podsednik and Matt Kemp having 3 hits a piece and pinch hitters Ronnie Belliard and Jay Gibbons were effective off the bench, as both recorded hits and RBIs in their at bats. Despite scattering double digit hits, the Dodgers weren't able to capitalize for more than 5 runs as they stranded 12 runners. Andre Ethier gets LVP honors as he was awarded a golden sombrero in an 0-5 day.
The Dodges had an opportunity to do some damage in the 8th inning. Entering the top of the 8th down 8-2, the Dodgers scored 3 runs and after a Matt Kemp single had the bases loaded with two outs. After getting ahead in the count 3-1, James Loney hit a grounder to Troy Tulowitzki ending the threat.
Manny Ramirez had a particularly strange game in what may well be his last appearance in Dodger blue. Ramirez, again, started the contest on the bench but entered the game in the 6th inning with the bases loaded and 1 out. Ramirez saw one pitch from Matt Reynolds which looked outside but was called a strike. Ramirez argued the call and was quickly ejected from the game. Reed Johnson came in as the pinch hitter for the pinch hitter and grounded into an inning ending double play. If this was his last game with the Dodgers, what an odd way to go.
Update: Dylan Hernandez is reporting that Manny Ramirez will be heading to the White Sox tomorrow. No word yet on terms but it may well be a straight salary dump.
WP - Jason Hammel (9-7): 5.1 IP, 7 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts
LP - Ted Lilly (8-9): 4 IP, 9 hits, 7 runs, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts