Results tagged “coloradorockies”

The Colorado Rockies still couldn’t emerge from the K-hole they fell into yesterday. After striking out 12 times in last night’s game, they struck out an additional 17 times losing 5-3 against the Dodgers. Dodgers starter Vicente Padilla knew this was an audition for the postseason. His fast balls were crisp and he was able to get his curve balls over for strikes striking out the first five batters he faced. He ended up going five innings giving up a run on four hits with ten strikeouts.

Do you know what dozens of bottles of champagne and cans of beer do to a clubhouse? Well I got a nice whiff of it this morning and picture it: you’re back in a frathouse in the middle of spring semester just as the scents of spilt beer and worn socks, shoes and boxers comingle into a moldy suffocating mess. But that’s the price of victory which everyone in the clubhouse was willing to deal with.

“One win does a lot things for a team,” Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw proclaimed on the field in front of the Dodgers dugout after the corks popped. It took a while but the Dodgers finally did it. In front of their 11th sellout crowd of 54,531, the Dodgers finally clinched the best record in the National League and the NL West crown with a 5-0 spanking of the Colorado Rockies. And with that the moribund Dodgers instantly became the toast of Los Angeles.

People are mopey here in the press box at Dodger Stadium today. The pall of failures from the last five games hangs around like an unwanted in-law. The Dodgers are in the midst of their worst losing streak of the season which encourages about as much confidence as the Hindenburg. However the players apparently don’t feel that same fog of disappointment.

It was more of the same for the Dodgers who couldn’t get many things done in an epic 3:42 4-3 loss. Singer-songwriter Jimmy Demers set the tone of the evening by taking 10 minutes to sing the National Anthem. In fact he’s still in the middle of one of his runs. The Dodgers couldn’t muster anything at the plate striking out 10 times against Rockies starter Ubaldo Jimenez. In the two other games Jimenez started against the Dodgers this season he struck out only seven batters total.

It’s come down to this - a heavyweight divisional slugfest to duel for the National League West division title between the defending champions Los Angeles Dodgers and the little engine that could Colorado Rockies.

LA Dodgers defeat Colorado Rockies 6-1. Andre Ethier hit two homers and James Loney hit a three-run tater to power the Dodgers over the Rockies. Ethier hit a homer in the first inning after Matt Kemp walked and hit a solo shot to lead off the fourth inning. After Manny Ramirez was hit by a pitch and Casey Blake walked Loney hit his shot in the same inning. At that point the Dodgers had only three hits, the three homers. While it's easy to get very excited about this power surge, keep in mind the Rockies were forced to start Josh Fogg who has been a reliever all season. This gives the Dodgers a three game lead over the Rockies again.

Colorado Rockies defeat LA Dodgers 5-4 (10). On June 3, the Rockies trailed the Dodgers by 15 1/2 games. With their victory over the Dodgers Tuesday night that deficit has shrunk to two games. The Dodgers led off the first inning with Andre Ethier doubling in Matt Kemp taking a 1-0 lead. Casey Blake would extend the lead to two with a solo shot in the fourth. But the Rockies would come back in home half of the fourth when with Todd Helton on second Brad Hawpe hit a homer to center field. They would add a run in the seventh and eighth inning for a 4-2 lead going into the top of the ninth. With closer Huston Street unavailable to pitch for the Rockies, manager Jim Tracy instead went with Rafael Betancourt, Joe Beimel and Matt Daley in the ninth inning resulting the Dodgers tying the game 4-4. Thanks to a James Loney throwing error in the bottom of the 10th the Rockies loaded the bases on James McDonald. Troy Tulowitski would bloop a single to bring in the winning run.

Colorado Rockies defeat LA Dodgers 3-0. In the race for win number 10, Chad Billingsley came up on the short end against Jason Marquis. He didn't do a terrible job giving up three runs on five hits and three walks in 7 2/3 innings. The problem was that Marquis was better pitching a complete game two-hit shutout on only 86 pitches while walking no one. With the Dodgers offense sputtering, Friday is looking brighter as the days go by.

LA Dodgers defeat Colorado Rockies 4-2 (13 innings). The game just wouldn't end. All of the scoring in regulation came in the fifth with each team scoring twice. While both teams had their chances in the tenth inning to put it away, the lack of fundamental offensive baseball kept the game tied. Finally in the 13th inning with Casey Blake on board with a single, who else would knock the walk off homer other than Andre Ethier. To be honest Ethier's at bat looked horrendous until he popped that change up out to right field. So the Dodgers manage to avoid losing three consecutive games, the only team in baseball to do so. Also Randy Wolf gets his 11th no-decision of the season. The offensive star of the game was Juan Pierre who went 3-for-5 with a walk, three stolen bases and NO runs. Like I said, the Dodgers have not been playing fundamental baesball.

Chicago White Sox defeat LA Dodgers 10-7. Just as I write about how the Dodgers pitching has kept them on top, they decide to go into the tank. Dodger pitching gave up six homers to the White Sox: three off of starter Randy Wolf; two off of Cory Wade and one off of James McDonald. It's the most home runs given up by the Dodgers in eight years. But the Dodgers would fight back after being down 10-3 after six innings. The would score a run in the seventh and three in the eighth. Even though the seven-run deficit was too much to overcome, their fight is something that will help them out in the long run.

LA Dodgers defeat Chicago White Sox 5-2. This was Hiroki Kuroda at his best. Kuroda gave up a solo shot to former Dodger prospect Paul Konerko in the second inning and an RBI single to Jermaine Dye in the ninth as the only blemishes in his 8 2/3 inning performance. After Dye's single Jonathan Broxton came in and Jim Thome to strike out to end the game. Meanwhile the offense was buoyed by James Loney's two-run dinger in the second and Casey Blake's two-run single in the eighth inning. The Dodgers are now 23 games over .500 the most since the end of 2004.

Colorado Rockies defeat LA Angels 11-1. Angels starter Matt Palmer was 6-0 coming into Monday night's game. Then the red hot Rockies stopped by Angel Stadium and scorched Palmer to the tune of six runs in 4 2/3 innings. Brad Hawpe celebrating his 30th birthday gave himself a present knocking a three-run homer in the top of the fifth inning that all but cinched the win for the Rockies. Meanwhile Rockies starter Aaron Cook pitched seven innings of three-hit one-run ball thoroughly frustrating the Angels hitters. In fact the Kendry Morales hit a solo shot off of Cook in the fourth inning to make the only dent for the Angels. The Rockies have now won 17 games of their last 18 under new manager Jim Tracy. I wonder if he still interviews himself.

LA Lakers defeat Denver Nuggets 103-94. Lakers players not named Kobe Bryant or Pau Gasol made an appearance in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals. Most notably Lamar Odom became the beast everyone knew he could be scoring 19 points, grabbing 14 boards and blocking four shots. To open the fourth quarter Odom was everywhere defensively and offensively helping the Lakers go on a 11-0 run to start the fourth. Meanwhile when the Lakers looked a bit lethargic in the third quarter, Shannon Brown came into the game and made an emphatic dunk over Chris "Birdman" Anderson. The game was tight throughout being tied after the first, second and third quarters. But the Lakers were active on defense in the fourth quarter and summarily was able to pull out the game. By the way, Kobe Bryant scored only 22 points.

LA Dodgers defeat Colorado Rockies 7-1. What better way to come out of a hitting slump than to play against the worst team in the NL West? Casey Blake came through with the bases loaded in the fifth inning hitting his second double off of Rockies starter Aaron Cook clearing the bases giving the Dodgers a 4-0 lead. Although Dodgers starter Eric Milton gave one run back in the bottom of that frame, he pitched just well enough to get his first win since August 8, 2006 when he played for the Cincinnati Reds. Juan Pierre had just another normal outing for him, a 3-for-5 day scoring twice and driving two home. Orlando Hudson went 2-for-3 extending his hitting streak to a career-high 16 games. The Dodgers will bring the brooms out and go for the sweep today.

LA Dodgers defeat Colorado Rockies 3-1. The final game of their successful 10-game homestand ended with a well pitched game between Derek Lowe and the Rockie's Jorge de la Rosa. Lowe just gave up the one run in the first inning and went on to pitch 6 1/3 innings giving up four hits and two walks with seven strikeouts. Meanwhile the Dodger bats did just enough getting three runs on five hits and two generous errors given by the Rockies. The bullpen seemed to shore things up with Hong-Chih Kuo and Jonathan Broxton giving up two hits and getting five strikeouts combined. And get this. Manny Ramirez in his press conference when he first came to LA jokingly said that he would start stealing bases now that he was with the Dodgers. Well he came through on that promise stealing second standing up on what was supposed to be a hit-and-run play with Russell Martin at the plate. Whatever works. The Dodgers now go on the road for 10 games in 10 days at Philadelphia, Washington and Arizona.

Colorado Rockies defeat LA Dodgers 4-3. Impatient hitting, bad bullpen and awful defense doesn't help any team to win games. On the Kamenetzky Brother's Purple, Gold and Blue podcast Wednesday morning, I said the Dodgers have to be wary about a tired bullpen. The bullpen has been making games more interesting than they needed to be lately, and it will be cause for concern if they continue to falter down the stretch. What more can be said about this game?

Colorado Rockies defeat LA Dodgers 8-3. This time last year the Rockies were seven games out of first place, and after late season sweeps of the Dodgers in two series last season they propelled themselves to nab the NL pennant. Although the circumstances are different this year, it's hard to not to make parallels. While the Dodgers pitching was nothing to write home about, the Dodgers at bats were just plain atrocious. No patience at all. And considering the Dodgers outhit the Rockies 11-10, that was just a poor performance by the Dodger bats. But it's just one game.

Colorado Rockies defeat LA Dodgers 5-3. Dodger's starter Hiroki Kuroda came out shaky in the first three innings but eventually pulled it together in his last three innings. Unfortunately the aftermath of the first three innings was giving up five runs to the Rockies who seemed to luxuriate in hitting the Dodgers. Apart from the eight-run first inning of the first game, the Dodgers were completely outplayed in this series. The positive note: Andruw Jones got an RBI double. The Dodgers will take a day off to think about what they have done, or more appropriately what they haven't done.

LA Angels defeat Cleveland Indians 3-2. Jeff Mathis hit a solo shot in the fifth inning to put the Angels ahead, and that was all they needed. Yet again, the Angels did just enough to get the win and get Francisco Rodriguez his 41st save. Starter Jered Weaver left the game in the third inning with a tight back, and the Angel bullpen supported him by shutting down the Indians giving up only four hits. The Angels still have the best record in baseball thereby proving that pitching and defense wins games. Let's see what happens in the playoffs.

LA Dodgers defeat Colorado Rockies 16-10. In an effort to conserve energy, the Colorado Rockies apparently decided to turn of the humidor. The Dodgers came out with a bang scoring eight runs in the first inning. They would go on to take an 11-0 lead in the third inning, but Coors Field being what it is the Rockies would make a comeback. After being shut out for the first two innings, the Rockies scored at least one run in the remaining seven innings but couldn't catch up. Rockie's shortstop Troy Tulowitzki in his first game of the disabled list went 5-5 with a sacrifice fly. The same fortune would be shared with Rockie's starter Kip Wells in his first action since the end of April. He gave up eight runs in that first frame that essentially sealed the deal for the Rockies. The Dodgers pitching fared a little better but not by much. Despite having a 12-3 lead in the fourth inning, Eric Stults was very erratic and was taken out of the game. How did now-retired Hideo Nomo ever pitch a no-no at Coors Field pre-humidor?

Colorado Rockies defeat LA Dodgers 2-1. Matt Kemp missing the pitch on a hit-and-run leading to Juan Pierre being caught stealing second to end the inning and only one base runner to make it to second base (scoring the lone run) adds up to yet another Dodger loss at the hands of the worst team in baseball. I was privileged to be at the game to witness starter Clayton Kershaw's awesome curve ball. But no run support equals no win unfortunately. I am not looking forward to this four-game series against the Cubs starting tomorrow.

Colorado Rockies defeat LA Dodgers 3-0. How pathetic are the Dodgers? The only fireworks they displayed was in the bottom of the eighth inning when Matt Kemp and Rockie's catcher Yorvit Torrealba decided to go bush league and shove each other after getting tangled up after a strike three ball landed on the ground. The benches cleared, and both players got ejected and are likely to receive suspensions. Other than that it was a snoozer of a game. The Dodgers could not figure out Rockie's starter Jeff Francis despite only having one win and an ERA over six.

LA Dodgers defeat Colorado Rockies 8-2. The best remedy for a slumping team is coming home to play the worst team in baseball. The Dodgers looked like champs while getting solo homers from Jeff Kent, Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp. Danny Ardoin meanwhile made his second start behind the plate giving Russell Martin and his hot bat the night off.

LA Lakers over Utah Jazz 109-98. MVP Kobe Bryant and the Lakers showed that a six-day layoff wouldn't decrease their intensity as they spanked the Jazz Sunday afternoon. Before the sold-out crowd at Staples, the Jazz looked gassed in the fourth quarter from having played six tough games against the Houston Rockets in the first round. The MVP scored 38 points and went to the free-throw line a playoff career high 23 times only missing his last two attempts. The one point of concern for the Lakers was their job on the defensive boards. Utah grabbed 25 offensive rebounds, and if the Lakers hope to make this another short series they need to box out better. The Lakers have now won five straight playoff games.

LA Dodgers (16-13) defeat Colorado Rockies (11-18) 11-6. In a game where the wind chill was below freezing, the Dodgers took a while to thaw out eventually breaking the game open in the sixth inning with seven runs. Early MVP candidate Rafael Furcal hit an Earl Weaver in that inning and Blake DeWitt got a pinch-hit two-run single. Brad Penny (5-2) started off shakily walking three batters in the first two innings (two of which scored) but eventually regained his form giving up two more runs in five innings. Russell Martin had a highlight game at third base for the first six innings and moving back behind the plate for the final three innings.

LA Lakers defeat Denver Nuggets 102-84. The thin air seemingly inconsequential, the Lakers continued to pound the Nuggets to ultimate self destruction. The Nuggets decided to be more defensive which seemed laughable at points, but their offense just couldn't get going. Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson combined for 10-38 shooting with 16 and 15 points respectively which just isn't going to get it done. The Lakers can close out the series on Monday in game 4 in Denver.

LA Dodgers (10-13) defeats Colorado Rockies (10-13) 8-7 (13). Third baseman Russell Martin seems to have come out of his early season slump. He went 4-4 with three singles, a double, two walks and that crucial game-winning sacrifice fly in the 13th with the bases loaded. And you read right. In the ninth inning Nomar Garciaparra pulled his calf muscle attempting to dive for a double down the left field line by Scott Podsednik. After the game manager Joe Torre said that Nomar would likely go on the DL thereby bringing Blake DeWitt back up from AAA after being sent down Thursday night (I'm assuming). Andruw Jones also left the game in the fifth inning after fouling a ball of his leg. He got a bruise so that should sit him down for a couple of days.

It's such a great shame that Adrienne Shelly's life was cut so tragically short last year. Her last film, may be the greatest DVD title in the history of the universe.

Londonist got the big scoop of the week with what may be the first images of notorious street artist Banksy in action. They also got on a runaway train without an operator provoking a response from the transport authorities. Elsewhere, London's answer to Central Station is about to open for business, and Londonist got a sneak preview. Meanwhile, spooky goings-on beneath London Bridge, where a cache of skeletons provided an apt story for Hallowe'en.