Dodgers Make it Official: 2010 is a Losing Season

Dodgers 5 4 0

Diamondbacks 7 10 0

WP-Kroenke (1-0)

LP-Ely (4-10)

S-Gutierrez (15)

HR-Kemp (26)

HR-La Roche (25)

The Dodgers were unable to comeback after John Ely had another disappointing start. With this loss, the Dodgers will be unable to finish the season at an even .500, and they continue their fall from grace from last season. They go from winning 95 games to finishing under .500 in 2010. Brad Ausmus, who was managing tonight, was more concerned over ordering pizza and sandwiches than actually ya know managing. Clayton Kershaw was designated as the "errand boy", while Jeff Weaver was allowed to be the bullpen coach, and Jamey Carroll was the designated bench coach. Carroll will get to manage tomorrow's game.

Ely, who lost his 10th game of the season, looked bad from the beginning. In the first inning, Stephen Drew leadoff with a single, Young doubled scoring a run, and Johnson singled scoring the 2nd run of the inning. La Roche hit into a double play. Reynolds, who has more strikeouts than even our very own Matt Kemp, whiffed to end the inning. Casey Blake singled in the bottom of the inning, but they were unable to pick him up. In the 2nd inning Schmidt got his first career hit, a single, off Ely, but Kroenke struck out to end the inning. 

Batting practice ensued in the 3rd inning for AZ. Ely walked Young who then stole 2nd. Ely then walked Johnson. La Roche doubled off the wall which scored 1 run. Reynolds and Allen have back-to-back scoring fly balls making it 5-0 in favor of AZ. Ely actually pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the 4th, and Matt Kemp hits a solo homerun, his 26th of the season, in the bottom of the inning making it 5-1. Ely, in the 5th, walks Stephen Drew who then stole 2nd. La Roche comes up, and Ely serves him another meatball, which he promptly bangs out for a 2-run homerun making it 7-1. Ausmus made a double switch, and brought in Reed Johnson and Ramon Troncoso. Troncoso struck out Reynalds to finally end the inning. 

In the bottom of the 6th, the Dodgers play catch up a little. Theriot and Blake get back-to-back walks. Ethier singled to load the bases. Kemp is hit by the pitch which brings in a run. Loney singled, picking up a RBI. Big Rod comes in to pinch hit, and hits the ball well to the gap, but speedy and pesky Chris Young catches up to it for the out, but it allows the 3rd run of the inning to score making it 7-4. 

Sherrill pitches a great top of the 7th striking out 2. Yes, that's not a typo. In the bottom of the inning, the Dodgers inch a little closer when Johnson is hit by the pitch, and then Blake walks in the next at-bat. A wild pitch allows the runners to advance to 2nd and 3rd. Theriot scores on a Ethier groundout making it 7-5.

They stupidly decide to use Kuo in the 8th inning once again. I'm not sure why they are doing this, but it's ridiculous. Kuo of course blows the side out of the water striking out 3. Belisario is brought in again in the 9th and is of course shaky. He gives up a single and a walk before the inning is over. The Dodgers go down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 9th inning. 

Ely lasted only 4.2 innings allowing 7 runs on 7 hits walking and striking out 3 each. Kroenke, the rookie, actually had a impressive first start. He went 5.0 innings, allowing only 1 run off 2 hits, walking 2 and striking out 1. AZ may have a promising lefty starter in him. Ely, on the other hand, cannot be considered as a 5th starter next season. He needs more experience before pitching in the majors again. 

It looks like San Diego hung on for one more day. They won 6-4 against San Francisco. Tomorrow Chad Billingsley goes to the mound for his final start of the season. Chad has pitched very well this year. Thanks for reading, I've had a blast posting! I will continue posting in the offseason, and you can look forward to Blue Bios, where I will profile each individual player once we know that they will be on the 2011 team:)