A Breeze Turns Stormy in Dodgers 8-5 Win over Rockies

Sometimes the Dodgers can kill fans with their one-run nail biters. Sometimes the Dodgers can do what they did Monday night against the Colorado Rockies. Going into the top of the ninth with the 8-1 lead, Javy Guerra wound up with his team-leading eighth save in the Dodgers’ 8-5 victory.

You read that correctly. The inning started out with Hong-Chih Kuo trying to overcome his last two outings where he went a combined 2/3 innings and giving up three runs. In this game: single, walk, ground out to shortstop that scored a run, walk.

“I feel bad I didn’t get guys out,” Kuo remarked. “But it’s just one game for me. I feel good.”

Then was Mike MacDougal who came into the game allowing 13 of 36 inherited runners to score. Jokingly I tweeted that in ten minutes Javy Guerra would be brought into the game in a save situation. Walk, single, throwing error by second baseman Jamey Carroll, walk: no outs and both inherited runners scored along with one of his own.

Despite the inherited runners scoring on MacDougal, Mattingly hasn’t noticed anything unbecoming.

“I have to really look at it closely because it seems like he comes in a do a lot of things we ask.”

Nonetheless what was supposed to be a joke became reality when Guerra came in to an 8-5 game with the bases loaded. Guerra got Troy Tulowitzki to pop up to second base on the first pitch and Seth Smith to ground out three pitches later to close the game. Mattingly didn’t want it to come down to Guerra.

“But at the end of the day, no matter how you slice it, you get a “W” you leave here feeling good.”

In all of the drama in that half inning stole the thunder of all the good things the Dodgers offense did. According to Bob Timmerman, Dodgers’ blogger and tweeter extraordinaire, the back-to-back doubles by Rafael Furcal and Aaron Miles capped with a homer by Andre Ethier to give the Dodgers the 3-1 lead in the third inning was the first time since May 11, 2010 that the Dodgers had three consecutive extra-base hits. Ethier credited his homer to his new-found approach at the plate.

“I just decided to swing for the fences every time,” Ethier deadpanned. “Why not?”

An RBI double and RBI single by Juan Rivera and Dioner Navarro in the sixth inning gave the Dodgers the 5-1 lead before a string of four singles and two walks scored the crucial three runs in the eighth.

All those runs gave Dodgers’ starter Rubby De La Rosa more than enough to be comfortable despite laboring in the first two innings.

“I didn’t have much control in the first couple of innings,” De La Rosa said through translator Kenji Nimura. “The ball was going all over.”

But he got control in the next four innings allowing only two walks.

“I was able to concentrate more after that and was able to attack the strike zone.”

After all of that, what Mattingly said was correct: the win is all that matters in the end. The Dodgers have now won three in a row while the Rockies have started going the other way only 1 ½ games ahead of the Dodgers after being in first place for most of April and early May.

But, as catcher Dioner Navarro said, “Mañana is another day.”

Cleveland Indians defeat LA Angels 3-2. As well as Dan Haren pitched, the Angels certainly took their time giving him run support. The Indians led 1-0 until the eighth inning when Bobby Abreu’s two-run homer gave the Angels what looked to be the winning hit. But things went wrong for closer Jordan Walden from the very beginning of his outing giving up a single to Michael Brantley. Brantley stole second base which allowed the Pronc Travis Hafner to bring him home on a double. With the save blown, Walden then loaded the bases by walking Carlos Santana and hitting Jack Hannahan with a pitch.

Angels’ manager Mike Scioscia gave Walden the hook in favor of Hisanori Takahashi, and after Travis Buck grounded to a force play that saved a run the coup de grace. In his second Major League game, Jason Kipnis got his first hit. Memorably enough it was a walk-off single to continue the late inning magic at Progressive Field.

BITCH, PLEASE

Professional male athletes in the United States have a severe image problem: the image they think they project is nowhere near the actual image they project. Some of them think they’re fashion conscious, edgy or on the vanguard of culture. In reality they are just sad sacks of bad taste, triteness and yawn-inducing blandness.

It’s clear in their raging heterosexuality, they do not have a gay friend to help guide them to make correct personal choices. So I will use this space to be these athletes’ gay best friend who will tell them, “Bitch, please,” when they step out with an unfortunate fashion choice, grooming habit or public relations nightmare.

My first friend is the Lakers’ own Ron Artest. Or Metta World Peace or whatever inane pseudonym he wishes to call himself, but that’s another piece for another day. No, Artest has now joined the ranks of Brett Favre and Greg Oden with his own ugly dong shot for the public to see. Allegedly.

Being a red-blooded homosexual, I have no problems with dong shots. In fact the best ones came from the oft-injured centerfielder for the Cleveland Indians Grady Sizemore. Actually his shots had his dong strategically hidden. Nonetheless, any gay person who has cruised for some online action has seen dong shots galore.

However like Favre, Artest’s alleged dong is a hideous stump of a unit that hardly made my gag reflex quiver. After all what good is a shot of the peen if it doesn’t cause your throat muscles to contract just a little? Nonetheless if Artest were gay this penis shot would be no problem.

But Artest is a heterosexual. Although I have no idea how heterosexual mating rituals are executed, I doubt that showing a picture of your penis to a lovely woman would get her to swoon. Especially one so stumpy.

So Artest: Bitch, please!

TONIGHT’S ACTION

LA Angels at Cleveland Indians. 4:05 p.m. FSWest, AM 830 KLAA.

Colorado Rockies at LA Dodgers. 7:10 p.m. KCAL9, AM 790 KABC.