I was really reluctant to go to the game Tuesday night. For starters I’m typing this in my new living room where boxes of books and junk are stacked up next to me awaiting a new home. I have thawed chicken in the fridge that waiting to be part of pad thai that I’ve been wanting to cook. And after watching the horror that was Monday night’s game, you can understand my reluctance. In the end I decided to go and just forget about all of these things and was treated to a somewhat wild game.
First off I must congratulate DUI. He’s the first Dodger in LA history to have three consecutive four-hit games. He went from batting .214 on Saturday to .297. That's an impressive feat to say the very least.
The Dodgers’ bats reared their ugly heads Tuesday night in the bottom of the third. After Prozac gave up four runs on four hits in the top of the third giving the Cardinals a 4-3 lead, the Dodgers responded by getting six runs off of six hits to take the lead for good at 9-4.
This led to a great opportunity for Hong-chih Kuo to get some big-league practice in the seventh inning after being called up today from Las Vegas*. He got hit up by the Cards for three runs and four hits, but with Bob’s Big Boy warming up in the pen the game was still out of reach.
I was actually happy the Cards made a mini-comeback just so I could see what the Dodgers would play for Saito as he came in to save the game. The choice: George Thorogood & the Destroyer’s “Bad to the Bone”. Knowing Saito’s goofy smile after he notches his saves I really didn’t feel it was appropriate. The best part of his entrance was seeing his name in Kanji.
Now I have to do something I really don’t like doing, but I’ve been doing it a lot since I started writing for LAist: it’s time for me to eat my words. Last month I wrote that the Dodgers would be close to the bottom of the NL West by mid-May. I was wrong, dead wrong. They somehow found a way to win games that I can’t explain. When a team leaves as many runners on base and hits for no power, one really doesn’t expect that team to win. I’m very amazed and happy that they now have a three-game lead ahead of the Padres and D-Backs. The toughest challenge they have this month is a three game series against the Milwaukee Brewers starting Monday.
If you remember the Dodgers got beat down by the Brew Crew in the first series of the season. The scary thing is they have gotten better. However the Dodgers have also gotten better, so this should make for a good series.
One last thing. When Scott Spiezio came up to bat a girl sitting behind me said that the red soul patch he sports in his picture looks like he has a period on his face. I laughed for his entire at-bat.
* Infielder Wilson Valdez hitting .236 was designated for assignment (AKA demoted to the minors) as a result of this move.
All photos courtesy ME as posted on my flickr account
