Gwynn's Clutch Double gives Dodgers win in game 1

Dodgers  7 11 0
Nationals 4 5 0
WP-Dougie-3-1
LP-Storen-6-3
SV-Guerra-16
HR-Wethless-19


The Dodgers survived another lousy Chad Billingsley start, as the Offense led the way, as the Dodgers scored 2 runs in the first and the third, and three runs in the top of the 9th to retake the lead that Bills had coughed up in the third inning.
Dee Gordon went 4 for 5 but he was also thrown out on the base paths three times, twice at home plate.
Rivera went 2 for 4 with two two run doubles, and a great emmy performence on what appeared to be a nice leaping catch of a long drive off the scoreboard in right. robbing Werthless of an extra base hit.
Tony Gwynn Jr. had the go ahead hit, a long double that drove in two.

Gwynn's two run double puts the Dodgers ahead for good in the top of the 9th

Bills continued his downward spiral with his worst start of the year, not making it out of the third inning and allowing four runs. he left with the game tied, and did not involve in the decision. neither did Chien-Ming Wang, who was sketchy in the first three innings, but settled down going 6 allowing four runs on no walks and whiffing three.

Once again, the Dodgers just waited out the Nationals, getting deep into their crappy bullpen, as the Dodgers far superior Bullpen pitched 6.2 innings of scoreless work. allowing no hits and three walks.

The Dodgers and Nationals flipped the pitching match ups. Billingsley vs. Wang was pushed to Game 1 , with Eveland vs. Detwiler set for the second game.

Chien-Mng Wang pitches 6 innings allowing four runs

the Dodgers opened up the game in front of a small crowd, by taking a 2-0 lead. Gordon singles up the middle, followed by a Loney double that bounces over the wall, keeping Gordon at third base.
Chien-Ming Wang, former 19 game winner with the Yanks, gets kemp to ground to third, and Gordon is caught in a rundown between third base and Home. he's tagged out, and Loney moves to third.
Wang is a big guy, 6'6 230 and has a weird pause in his delivery.
Rivera's double however merely bounces up off wall, in left center, scoring Loney and Kemp, and its 2-0 Dodgers.
Miles grounds out, and Sandman, back with expansion of rosters, does not impress me by meekly grinding out to first.

Rivera's first of two doubles drives in a pair for the Dodgers

bottom 1st, Bills retires the Nats in order. a surprisingly calm inning for him.

Wang also records a 123 inning in the top of the 2nd. Bottom of the second sees Bills hopping onto the walkapalooza tour 2011. I imagine Bills playing the guitar and rocking out to all of his four pitch walks he allows. WALKAPALOOZA!!! practice swing boy Mike Morse draws a walk. WALKAPALOOZA
Werthless flies out. Ankiel whiffs. but then........WALKAPALOOZA. marrero and Ramos both walk. and luckily for Bills, he gets to face Chien-Ming Wang, who is 0 for 26. Bills whiffs him to end the inning.

top of the third, Gordon who is red hot, singles, Loney's long single to right sends Gordon to third. Bison hits another grounder to third, looking identical to the one he hit in the first. Gordon runs on contact, and is thrown out at home plate by Zimmerman. Gordon's slide head first with his Hand touching home plate looked safe. but Ump calls him out. I've never liked the running on contact play anyways, and the Dodgers tried it twice in a row. I don't agree. too risky boys. Loney again moves to second.
Rivera hits a line drive to left field, that goes over practice swing boy Morse's head bouncing to the wall. Loney and Kemp score, on rivera's second two run double. 4-0 Dodgers.
I guess this fits with the theme of the double header. two for the price of one. the first and third were almost exactly the same, two hits from Gordon and Loney,two fielder's choice grounders for Kemp, and two two run double from Rivera. It seems like the Dodgers are really helping out with this whole twofer theme.

Miles, and Sandman both ground out, like they did in the first inning, and we move to the bottom half.

in the bottom of the third, Bills completely meltsdown I have no idea whats wrong with him, but Im very disappointed. he's been awful lately, and I fear that he may have some kind of injury. thats my guess, but there was a long at bat from Lombardozzi that contributed although he was struggling in the previous inning to throw strikes.
Desmond singles. Lombardozzi has a 15 pitch at bat, fouling off pitch after pitch before grounding out. Zimmerman doubles, scoring desmond. Morse doubles in Zimmerman, and Wertheless's two run homer to left, certainly spells Doom for Bills. Ankiel reaches on a bloop double to left field. with all this Rivera completely butchers Zimmerman's double.
finally Mattingly had seen enough and comes out and pulls Bills. he brings in Lindblom to restore order.
Marrero's little dribbler is missed by a diving Lindblom, fortunately for the Dodgers Miles makes a nice play to retire marrero. two outs. Ramos's pop up into shallow right field is almost FUBARd by Rivera. he runs in and makes the catch, but collides with Sellers nearly killing him. geez Rivera is so sketch in the outfield. I'm already missing Dre. this keeps the game tied at 4-4 going to the top of the fourth.

Werthless and Practice Swing Boy celebrate gayly after a Werthless homer

after that sloppy affair in the last inning, things settle down in the top of the fourth. Big Rod flies out as Werthless makes a sliding catch. Sellers was ok after his collision with Rivera and grounds out. Lindblom gets to bat for himself, and whiffs ending the top of the 4th

Lindblom pitches a 123 bottom of the fourth, whiffing Wang, and retiring Desmond and Lombardozzi on groundouts.

tof of the 5th, Gordon who is red hot, leads off with a single off of Gordon's glove. this time he's thrown out attempting to steal. Loney grounds out and Kemp grounds out.

Bottom of the 5th, Zimmerman grounds out and then Lindblom runs into issues. he walks morse, and then Werthless's long drive to right field is caught by Rivera. he leaps up against the scoreboard to make the catch. the Dodgers try and say Werthless over ran Morse on the base paths, but its a moot point as he's out anyways and the play is dead. theres two outs, and Mattingly pulls Lindblom. Enter Kuo.
Kuo misses and walks Gomes. Mattingly comes out again this time to make a double switch. Enter Guerrier. Enter Gwynn into Left field. Sands moves to right, Rivera moves to first and Loney is taken out of the game. better outfield defense, but we lose Loney's bat.
Guerrier quickly whiffs marrero. Upon further review of the long drive from worthless that Rivera caught against the scoreboard, it appears that it may have just barley touched the scoreboard before bouncing into Rivera's glove. so Rivera gets an out and an academy award nomination for his performance.

Wang settles down quite nicely and retires the Dodgers in order in the top of the 6th. I had almost forgot he was still pitching.

Wang is batted for in the bottom of the 6th. after Guerrier pitches a very quiet inning of wrk. Wang exits the game with the score still tied at 4-4.
Todd Coffey comes out of the Nationals Bullpen in the top of the 7th. he pitches a 123 inning. were still tied.
Jansen replaces Guerrier in the bottom of the 7th. I like Mattingly's thinking here. get a quick inning from Jansen and then somehow score a run in the 8th, Jansen pitches the bottom of the 8th and then its Guerra time for the 9th. Jansen works a very quick inning, whiffing Lombardozzi and Zimmerman, and Gordon making a nice play to retire Morse on a grounder. during this inning, Carroll is put into the game at second base replacing Sellers. double headers are tough aren't they?

All-star reliever Tyler Clippard enters the game in the top of the 8th. he retires Gordon and Carroll. Kemp's one-hop smash goes off Zimmerman's glove for a hit. Rivera whiffs. so much for that plan.

Dougie is on the mound for the bottom of the 8th as the rain begins to fall. Wethless walks. Gomes flys out to Bison. marrero's groundout moves Werthless to second. Dougie's nasty off-speed pitch gets Ramos whiffing ending the 8th, and we move to the top of the 9th, still tied at 4-4.

the National's closer Drew Storen enters for the 9th, in a non save situation. Miles fouls out. Sands is plunked by a pitch. Big Rod singles over Desmond's head. first and second. Oeltjen pathetically whiffs after he was ahead in the count 3-1.
Tony Gwynn Jr. who signed my Baseball, hits a double deep into center field. Sandman and Big Rod both score, and the Dodgers take the lead 6-4!!! hooorahhh baby! Gywnn then steals third, his 21st steal of the season. Gordon's base hit up the middle scores Gwynn. 7-4 Dodgers. :) Gordon steals second, and Carroll draws a four pitch walk. its a complete Meltdown for Storen, and Davey Johnson is forced to hook him.
Collin Balester is brought in to face Kemp trying to get the last out.
Kemp hits a long fly out and the Dodgers go to the bottom of the 9th winning 7-4.

move to the bottom of the 9th. Guerra time. he whiffs old friend Alex Cora. Desmond grounds out, and Lombardozzi flies out to Bison ending the game. nice nice. well thats one! give Gwynn the game ball for this one. and another great job from the Dodger Bullpen. and credit to Mattingly for getting Bills out of there quickly. good game all around. we've got about a half hour until Game two.one win down, one to go!

*UPDATE. apparently Andre Ethier is actually in Birmingham Alabama with a specialist looking at his knee. if we have any new info on his injury, well pass it along to you*

Im worried about Bills, the Dodgers need to check him out, because I have a feeling he might be hurt. he doesn't look good. well have to worry about that later as the next game is already starting. Eveland vs. Detwiler coming up. GO BLUE in game two!