I'm at Dodger Stadium! For reals! I'll be live-blogging the game tonight between Arizona and LA, at least until the battery runs out on my BlackBerry. It's pre-game and the D'Backs just finished BP and now the grounds crew is out. I love to watch the dude with the groovy groove thing behind his little ATV. It's mesmerizing.
Chavez Ravine is resplendant tonight, just as I thought it would be. This stadium is...old. I knew that intellectually, but it seems older up close. Like Sarah Jessica Parker, I imagine. They kept the '60s style scoreboard, just like at Shea. This one looks even more retro.
The Mets game has been playing on the Jumbotron. Aaron Heilman just gave up a granny. What a bum. I think it may be time to give Duaner Sanchez his 8th inning job back.
Some soap guy did the Anthem. Nice job!
Top 1st
Chad Billingsley upped his 6.17 ERA by giving up an RBI single to Conor Jackson. The late-arriving crowd is living up to its name.
ARI 1, LA coming up.
Bottom 1st
Edgar Gonzalez got the first two but then Nomah singled and Jeff Kent doubled him home. I thought Garciaparra was out but I'm way up here. Some lady spilled her beer down about five rows. Andruw Jones has seen 4.5 pitches per at-bat, and has grounded many of them weakly to short, apparently.
ARI 1, LA 1
Top 2nd
After Matt Kemp botched a fly for a double, Jeff "Who Dat" Salazar went Ravine to make it 3-1. Billingsley's ERA is making like George W. Bush's disapproval ratings. All the beer stayed within proper containers this half inning.
ARI 3, LA 1
Bottom 2nd
Three up, three down. I was beginning to doubt I would see one of those tonight. The Mets lost 10-5.
ARI 3, LA 1
Top 3rd
Billingsley whiffed all three to give him seven for the game. We're all getting some California Pizza Kitchen pizza! Well, if the D'Backs don't smack him around first before he gets 10 K's.
ARI 3, LA 1
Bottom 3rd
Another 1-2-3 for Gonzalez. They're not booing, they're saying "Andruuuuuuuw...youuuuuu suck!"
ARI 3, LA 1
Top 4th
Two more strikeouts for Billingsley, Mmmm, I can taste that wood-fired goodness. Sandy Koufax struck out 18 on this date. Maybe we're seeing history. Or not.
ARI 3, LA 1
Bottom 4th
The Dodgers tied it up on hits by Nomah and Loney and a sac fly by Ethier. Billingsley had a chance to help his own cause but grounded out to end the inning. Isn't every player trying to help his own cause all the time?
ARI 3, LA 3
Top 5th
The good news for Billingsley was two more K's. The bad news was the single by Young, the double by Drew, the wild pitch, and the non-double play that looked like a bad call to me. The bad news for me is that I appear to be misinformed about that free CPK pizza. I should have figured in this economy.
ARI 5, LA 3
Bottom 5th
A web gem by Stephen Drew ended Nomah's bid for a third hit, and also the inning after the D'Backs completed the 6-4-3 double play. I think almost half the crowd has made it through the traffic and is on the way to their seats.
ARI 5, LA 3
Top 6th
In order for Billingsley, but only one strikeout. I think Pete Rose should be re-instated, and The Wave, the YMCA dance, and beach balls should receive a lifetime ban. This I Believe.
ARI 5, LA 3
Bottom 6th
Pitching change - Juan Cruz relieved Edgar Gonzalez after Russell Martin singled James Loney to third. Cruz plunked Ethier, but struck out Kemp flailing on a slider and got pinch-hitter Mark Sweeney to sky out to center. I managed to escape Kiss Cam. I would have had to kiss my BlackBerry.
ARI 5, LA 3
Top 7th
New pitcher Scott Proctor gets them in order. And we got our first "Yankees Suck" chant of the night. Even in LA they know.
ARI 5, LA 3
Bottom 7th
Chad Qualls should have had an easy inning, but he had a brain fart with Furcal on second and one out. Nomah hit a come-backer, and Qualls eschewed the easy out at first and tried to get Furcal, who wasn't really trying to advance to third. Third baseman Mark Reynolds threw back to second and hit Furcal in the head for an error. Kent singled in Furcal for one run, but Qualls got a 4-6-3 DP to end the rally. Now I am missing the top of the 8th explaining all this.
ARI 5, LA 4
Top 8th
Joe Beimel relieved Proctor with two outs and a run in. The Dodgers got screwed when a routine fielder's choice to Nomah turned into run. Garciaparra's throw was a little wide to Kent, and the ump called Conor Jackson safe at second. He was out. They never call that play safe ever. After Proctor threw a wild pitch, Upton hit a sac fly to score Jackson. Beimel got Salazar looking to end the inning, but the lead is back to two. I am now officially cold.
ARI 6, LA 4
Bottom 8th
Three up, three down for Tony Pena (not junior). Now 2/3 of the crowd is heading to their cars so they can clog up the freeways on the way home.
ARI 6, LA 4
Top 9th
The inning began with Kent saying the magic word to the ump and getting tossed, undoubtedly still arguing about the bad call in the 8th. The funny part was, somebody in the Dodger dugout had sent Chin Lung Hu out to take grounders while Kent was still arguing and had not yet been ejected. They must have known he would eventually say the word and/or phrase that would get the deed done. Meanwhile Cory Wade made his major league debut with a scoreless inning.
ARI 6, LA 4
Bottom 9th
A very quick 1-2-3 for Brandon Lyon, and now all I have to do is find my rental car. It's kinda gray, and I think it's a GM product.
FINAL SCORE - ARI 6, LA 4
No comments:
Post a Comment