This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Monday night came news that Nomar Garciapopup would be the third baseman in the near future. Who knew the near future meant Tuesday?
Nomar felt he was ready for third base duties and in he went, however that wasn’t the end of it. Grady Little also moved Nomar from third in the hitting lineup to sixth. And just what did Nomar do?
With Russell Martin on second and Luis Gonzalez on first with two outs, Nomar came up to bat with the score 5-5 in the top of the seventh and grounded out to first. In the top of the ninth with the same score and the bases loaded, Nomar struck out swinging on a high fastball out of the strike zone.
Way to go Nomar.
Kudos goes to James Loney and Tony Abreu. Loney was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle driving in three runs, and Abreu hit his first career homer pinch hitting in the top of the tenth to lead the Dodgers to victory 6-5.
Starting pitcher Chad Billingsley was not spectacular giving up five runs on four hits with three walks, three homers and one hit batter in four innings. Fortunately the bullpen came through with six shut-out innings to help the Dodgers get back into first place in the division.
While the Dodgers don’t need nor expect Billingsley to be perfect, he needs to do a better job than this and will once he gets the mentality of a starter. His next start against the San Diego Padres this weekend should show a marked improvement.
So a couple of questions to close this mother out. Why couldn’t the Dodgers show this much offense against the Devil Rays, and how long will it take for Grady to bench Nomar and Juan Pierre?
AP Photo by Paul Connors
