Ely's Lack of Control & Lack of Offense Lead to 80th Loss

Dodgers 2 3 0
Diamondbacks 5 11 0
WP-Hudson (8-2)
LP- Ely (4-9)
S-Gutierrez (13)
HR-Gillespie (2)

Yes, they lost. Before we go into the grim details of the night, let's first talk about the sad news that John Lindsey's season is over. In the 7th inning, Lindsey was hit by Hudson's pitch on his hand. His grimace from the pain could be felt all the way into my living room. He smiled, like he always does, and took first base. The next inning Loney took over at 1st base for him. After the game it was revealed he had in fact fractured his hand, and he will not return this season. So Sad! After 16 years of playing in the minors, he is injured in only his 2nd career start. In 10 games he has had 12 AB with 1 hit, 3 strikeouts, and a .083 batting average. We hope he has a speedy recovery, and he is back in a Dodger uniform next season!

Alright, if that wasn't depressing enough, let's look at how the Dodgers managed to lose to the Diamondbacks for their 80th loss of the season. John Ely clearly is not the same pitcher he was when he was first called up this season going 89 batters without a walk. Tonight was just the opposite. He had trouble with his control from the start. In the first inning he walked 2 batters. In the 2nd inning he got out of a jam after Hester doubled and Allen singled. He then struck out Hudson and Abreu. In the third inning, Johnson singled, and Ellis threw him out while the batter struck out doubling them up. Nice job, Ellis! In the 4th inning the Dodgers would get on the board when Oeltjen doubled, Theriot bunted him over, and Ethier brings in the run on his ground out. In the bottom of the inning Ely walks another 2 batters, but lucky for him Mitchell makes an outstanding play at 3rd to get the inning ending double play. Ely's control issues finally catch up to him in the 5th inning. Stephen Drew tripled, Johnson's line out brings in the run to tie the game at 1-1. Ely also gets 2 strikeouts this inning. He pitched very inconsistently, striking out and walking batters in the same inning throughout the game. The 6th inning got ugly. After a double by LaRoche, we all agree Torre should have pulled out Ely at this point, but instead he foolishly lets him continue and lo and behold Gillepsie hits a 3 run homerun after they intentionally walk Allen. Johnson attempts to catch the ball against the wall to no avail. Hudson promptly doubles right after the homerun. Torre finally brings in Troncoso who gets out of the inning, but in the 7th Troncoso gives up back to back singles and a run scoring fly ball to La Roche giving AZ a 5-1 lead. In the 8th we see Link give up 2 singles, but luckily no runs. Hudson starts the 9th with a one hitter, but the Dodgers knock him out of the game when he tires and gives up a single to Theriot, a walk to Ethier, and a single to Loney which brings in a run. The Dodgers added a run, but Mitchell strikes out ending the game on a sour note.

Ely ends up going 5.1 innings, allowing 4 runs off 7 hits, walking 6 and striking out 7. He has 11 walks in his last 2 starts. Hudson went 8.2 innings, allowing 2 runs off 2 hits, and walking 2 and striking out 5.

In order to finish at an even .500 the Dodgers must win all 7 of their remaining games. That is pretty much impossible at this point. Tomorrow they look to win the series vs. AZ in game 3. Chad Billingsley will try for his 12th win vs. Joe Saunders. Go Blue:)