Seven runs is the threshold

tomko on the mound

Well, at least now we know. Dodgers pitching staff, take note. Give up 7 runs, you can stay in the game. Give up 7 runs and then giving up another hit and Grady picks up the phone to the bullpen. Oh wait, our long reliever is now our starter because Schmidt is on the DL. That's okay. We'll call in Saenez. Rudy comes in and next thing you know it's 8-0 in the 3rd inning (charge that 8th run to Tomko, who gave up 8 in 2.1 innings) and you're feeling like someone just kicked you in the stomach.

Kent missed

What a mess. Why am I even spending any more time or energy thinking about this game?

Ethier missed too

In typical Dodgers fashion, they faked like they were going to pull a fabulous 9th inning comeback to make it all worth it. Olmedo is walked and gets an RBI for it. The bases are loaded.

Olmedo earns an RBI

One out, bottom of the ninth. And who is up? Jeff Kent? Nomar Garciaparra? Russ Martin? No, they'd all been pulled from the game sometime around the 6th inning. Instead we had Ramon Martinez (slugging a .212) and Brady Clark (avg .256). And we lost.

Cardinals fan

We got beat by a bunch of cut-off sleeved bear wielding red birds. Sigh.

Cardinal bear

mini dog In other news, this guy smuggled his dog into the stadium. It appears he is also smuggling raisins.

There was no woman next to him, so either he left his woman at home (where she would have been able to watch the dog), or that is actually his dog (sort of concerning). We never figured it out. The kid behind me thought maybe he'd turned his wife into a dog, which I suppose is a reasonable guess.

foul ball

This guy gets the gold glove of the night for catching a foul ball in the loge level without waking up his kid. I'm guessing he will soon be replacing Juan Pierre in center.

And Tara Lipinski (remember her?) was asked to throw out the first pitch. Now I understand if you are the 78 year old CEO of Frazee Paint and you sponsored rally towel night and they ask you to throw out the first pitch, well, you do your best and that's okay. If you don't make it to the plate, everyone sighs and says "it's okay, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity and I'm glad he made the most of it." But if you are a world class Olympic gold medal athlete (I don't care which sport it is), for the love of Vin practice your throw before you get to the stadium. You have enough coordination and strength to figure out what to do in a short period of time. And when you make a really bad throw, don't start bouncing up and down and giggling like an idiot and then cover your face with your hands like a 4 year old.

Then again, maybe if she'd pitched the game the outcome would have been different. Unlike Tomko, she certainly wouldn't have given the Cards anything they could hit. We should consider her as a potential 5th starter, the impossible-to-hit Tara Lipinski. Is it a knuckleball? Is it a screwball? You'll have to wait and see.

All photos by Malingering, who doesn't want to talk about it anymore.