9th Inning Rally Too Little Too Late

Dodgers 5 8 2
Rockies 6 17 1
WP- Chacin (7-4)
LP- Bills (5-5)
S- Street (19)
HR- Tulo (12), Kemp (19)

At game start we learned that Kemp had a tight hamstring and would not be starting. Trent Oeltjen would get the start in left field, and Tony Gwynn Jr. would start in center field. Without Kemp in the lineup, that of course left a gaping hole, and Blake hitting fourth would inevitably not be fruitful. Two uncharacteristic errors would sink the Dodgers in a nightmarish 5th inning.

Billingsley continued to have trouble at Coor's Field, and would not make it out of the 4th inning after being pummeled in the 5th. In the first inning Gordon leads off with a single, Ethier walks, but Blake's double play ends the inning. In the bottom of the 1st, CarGo singles and his thrown out by Navarro attempting to steal second on a nice tag by Gordon.

Bills is Bullied in the 5th Inning

The Dodgers go down 1-2-3 in the 2nd. Mullet promptly hits a solo homerun giving the Rockies a 1-0 lead. Wigginton doubles, Ianneta is intentionally walked, and Chacin grounds out back to Bills to end the inning.

In the 3rd Bills and Gordon both whiff and the Dodgers go down 1-2-3 again. In the bottom of the third CarGo strikes out, Nelson doubles, Helton singles, but Mullet hits into a double play to end the threat.

In the 4th, Aussie boy Oeltjen singles, Loney walks, and runners advance to 2nd & 3rd on a wild pitch by Chacin. Uribe uselessly strikes out to end the inning and strand the runners. Other than a 2-out Blackmon single, Bills has a good 4th inning.

Navarro and Bills strike out to once again help the Dodgers go down in order in the 5th. The bottom of the 5th would be one of the ugliest innings I have witnessed in awhile. It in itself could be a game. CarGo reaches second on a bunt and an error by Rusty Anchor. Nelson singles and reaches second on an error by Oeltjen allowing CarGo to third. Helton proceeds to single in both runners making it 3-0. Mullet then promptly singles Helton to second. A wild pitch by Bills allows the runners to go to 2nd & 3rd. Smith then singles in both runners and bam it's 5-0 just like that. Honeycutt makes a mound visit, but this has no affect. Wigginton then drops in a single in front of Tony Gwynn in center, and then Ianetta singles in Smith, 6-0. Finally Don Mattingly can't take anymore carnage and takes out Billingsley and brings in Troncoso. Troncoso gets Chacin to ground out to finally end the torture. The Rockies get 7 hits in the inning. Bills made 29 pitches. There was 2 errors and a wild pitch. Billingsley's ERA rocketed up to 4.13 after that inning.

The dust settles and we're reminded it's only the 6th inning. Billinglsey only goes 4.2 innings, allowing 13 hits, 6 runs, 1 walk, and strikes out 3 on 79 pitches.

In the 6th the Dodgers can't do much. Gordon strikes out, Oeltjen walks and steals second. Ethier whiffs and Blake grounds out. Troncoso is still pitching and allows a CarGo single and stolen base but then gets Mullet to hit into another double play to end the inning.

In the 7th the Dodgers go down pathetically 1-2-3. Troncoso comes in and pitches another scoreless inning striking out Blackmon and putting them down 1-2-3. Troncoso actually pitched very well.

In the 8th, Gordon singles under Mullet's glove and takes 2nd on Chacin's second wild pitch of the game. Oeltjen strikes out to end the inning. Javy Guerra comes in to pitch the bottom of the 8th and allows a double to Ianetta, but then they double him up on a Herrera fly ball. CarGo gets his 4th hit of the game, and Nelson singles. Gordon makes a leaping catch to rob pesky Helton of a run.

The 9th inning would get very very interesting, but alas it was just too little too late. Belisle comes into pitch in relief of Chacin. Ethier strikes out. Kemp comes up to pinch hit allowing him to preserve his now 269 consecutive games played streak. He proceeds to whallop the biggest homerun I have seen in a long time. This ball was almost hit to Canada. His 19th homerun would put the Dodgers on the board 6-1. Loney then singles. Uribe uselessly flies out for the second out. Navarro reaches on an error by Nelson who is playing out of position when they took Helton out and Loney goes to 2nd. Gwynn singles down the third base line scoring Loney, 6-2. Jim Tracy had enough of Belisle and brings in his closer Huston Street. With two outs Miles singles in both runners and the Dodgers are now within two runs, 6-4. Big Rod comes up and singles in Miles, 6-5. What is this? A 9th inning, 2-out bullpen meltdown? That's usually the Dodger's trademark game strategy! Well, then the umpires would burst our bubble when they call Oeltjen out on strikes on a check swing. What a way to end a game. I guess a loss is a loss is a loss.

Chacin goes 8 innings, allowing 3 hits, 0 runs, 3 walks, and striking out 9 on 112 pitches. He now has pitched 15 scoreless innings against the Dodgers this season.

The Dodgers Cannot Hit Chacin Whatsoever

Tomorrow Ted Lilly will go up in game three at 5:10 pm. Let's hope for a miracle weekend win! Go Blue:)