Gordon Debuts, Guerrier Blows

Dodgers 4 6 2
Reds      6 8 0
WP- Arroyo (5-6)
LP- Kuroda (5-8)
S- Cordero (13)
HR- Heisey (5), Votto (9)



So the last time I wrote about a win was May 30th. Two weeks ago exactly. I did miss three games when I was on vacation, but the losses keep mounting. Dee Gordon made his Dodger Stadium debut and had 1 hit collecting his first Major League RBI, but also made his first error. It really didn't matter what the Dodger offense did tonight, because Alpha Bum Guerrier would be sure to blow it.

Bronson Arroyo or Kid Rock? 

Kuroda of course will get pinned with the loss and the runs unfortunately, and his record falls to a sad 5-8 on the season. The Dodgers get on the board first when Ethier singles with 2 outs, Kemp is hit by the pitch, and Loney amazingly singles in Ethier to make it 1-0. Uribe pathetically fouls out.

The Reds bounce back in the second when Heisey singles, Cairo grounds Heisey to 2nd, Janish singles in Heisey, 1-1. Arroyo Bronson singles, but Kuroda strikes out Stubbs to end the inning. In the bottom of the inning the Reds make two bastardly plays. Janish robs Fatty of a single and Votto robs Gwynn of a sure double down the first baseline.

In the third we get to see a bit of Gordon's fancy fielding as he makes a diving stop to rob Phillips of a hit. Then he also throws out Votto who hits a ball off of Hiroki Kuroda. Two very nice plays, Dee! Kuroda has a 1-2-3 inning, but alas so do the Dodgers in the bottom of the third.

Kuroda comes back in the 4th and strikes out both Cairo and Hanigan and has another nice 1-2-3 inning. In the bottom of the inning Kemp leads off with a single, Loney singles him to third, and then Kemp scores on a Uribe double play.

Kuroda has another good inning in the 5th only allowing a Janish single. The Dodgers once again go down 1-2-3.

In the 6th, Gordon once again makes a nice diving catch on Votto's ball. Heisey proceeds to then hit a solo HR making it 2-2. The Dodgers again go down 1-2-3 in the 6th.

In the 7th, Hanigan reaches on an error by Gordon who drops the ball. Hanigan is out at 2nd on a force by Janish, but Janish reaches second when Miles throws away the ball making the second error of the inning. Then Arroyo gets his second hit of the game which scores Janish making it 3-2. Kuroda comes out and Alpha Bum comes in. You know how this story goes by now, don't you Dodger fans? Stubbs pops out, Guerrier walks Phillips, and then Votto proceeds to hit a 3-run HR making it 6-2. Guerrier walks yet another batter, Bruce. He somehow makes the last out by getting Heisey to fly out but the damage is done. Why did we sign this guy? It seems like there is always the dominant bum in the pen from the awfulness of George Sherrill and Dotel to the extreme crappiness of Lance Cormier and the used up Broxton...and now the torch has been passed on to Matt Guerrier.

Kuroda goes 6.1 innings, allowing 7 hits, 3 runs, 0 walks, and striking out 6 on 104 pitches.

The Dodgers of course go down 1-2-3 in the 7th, because for some reason they can't hit high kicker Arroyo.

Lindblom comes in and pitches a very nice 1-2-3 inning in the 8th. In the bottom of the 8th Gwynn gets an infield single, Gordon triples in Gwynn making it 6-3. Gordon then scores on a sac fly by Miles, 6-4. Bray comes in to relief Arroyo, and strikes out Ethier to end the inning.

Arroyo goes 7.2 innings, allowing 6 hits, 4 runs, 0 walks, and striking out 1 on 98 pitches.

Linblom continues in the 9th and hits Lewis but Fatty throws him out trying to steal 2nd. Stubbs strikes out for the third time. Phillips grounds out. Nice job Lindblom, too bad Alpha Bum had already blown the game.

Cordero comes in to pitch the 9th and walks Kemp to lead off. Kemp steals second (15). Then three of the most pathetic Dodger hitters come up to the plate in succession and do what they do best which is whiff. Loney whiff #1. Big Rod whiff #2. Fatty whiff #3.

Before the game we also learned that Vicente Padilla will have neck surgery on Thursday, and most likely will be out for the rest of the season.

Another day another bullpen blowout tomorrow Dodger fans. I'm sorry we have to witness this. Hopefully we can see brighter days. Go Blue:)