Home Cooking Still Great For Dodgers

Who needs Manny Ramirez? The Dodgers continued to be rude hosts with their latest victim, the New York Mets, losing three straight to the Angelenos in a series ending Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium. In falling out of first place in the National League East, the Mets lost 3-2 in 11 innings, 5-3 and 2-1. LA opens another three-game series Friday at home against former Dodger Mike Scioscia and the California Angels of Anaheim. Both Torre and Scioscia are former catchers.

“We play every inning, and that sounds pretty simple, but it’s not easy to do,” Dodger Manager Joe Torre explained on Dodgers.com. “We’ve been a patient ball club, and we’ve played well under pressure. That says a lot to me.” Without the injured Carlos Delgado (hip surgery) and Jose Reyes struggling with a right calf injury, the Mets were no match for a team that has won every series at home in improving to 17-3 at Dodger Stadium. Besides struggling offensively in all three games, the Mets gave the series opener away. On Monday, they had a runner called out on an appeal for missing third and made five errors, including two when the Dodgers scored in the bottom of the 11 th. The Dodgers did not exactly perform well, being out-hit 12-5, stranding 14 runners in scoring position, and going 0-for11 with runners in scoring position. “That was the strangest game I’ve ever seen,” admitted starting pitcher Randy Wolf, who allowed two runs in 7 2/3 innings. “There was something weird going on today,” he continued on the Dodgers website.

Casey Blake paced the second-game win with two hits, including a tie-breaking three-run homer in the sixth. Winning pitcher Chad Billingsley (6-1) helped himself by going two-for-two with an RBI. He allowed three runs (all earned) on four hits in 6 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts and five walks. Brent Leach, Ron Belisario, Corey Wade and Jonathon Broxton (10 th save) combined to finish. It was the second straight day of work for Wade and Broxton. In fact, Broxton worked in all three games, totaling three innings, two hits, no runs and two saves. The Dodger bullpen came up with another sparkling performance in the series finale, allowing no runs and three hits over the last four innings in relief of Jared Weaver. Russell Martin’s eighth-inning single plated the winning run. Orlando Hudson and Juan Pierre each went two-for-four to lead LA’s nine-hit attack off two pitchers.

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Dodger Chatter: The Dodgers are 3-1 in extra-inning games. Hudson, ranked eighth in the league with a .345 batting average, continues to play with a bruised shoulder. Team statistics back up the Dodgers’ 29-13 record, best in the major leagues. They are tied with the Yankees (232) for third in runs behind the Blue Jays (239) and Tampa Bay (234), rank third in batting behind the Blue Jays (.288) and Mets (.287) with .285, lead the major leagues in pitching with a 3.64 ERA and are tied for fourth (.988) in fielding with the Pirates and Astros behind the Phillies (.992), Twins (.990) and Padres (.989). According to Dodgers.com, outfielder Xavier Paul is expected to be put on the disabled list, and 24-year-old Jamie Hoffman is slated to be called up from Triple-A Albuquerque. This promotion will be the second of the season for Hoffman, who hit .307 at Double-A Chattanooga and .257 at Albuquerque. Juan Pierre continues to sizzle as the replacement for Manny Ramirez. The speedy outfielder is hitting .405 and boasts a .524 slugging average and .479 on-base percentage.

By: Bob Trostler
Los Angeles Dodgers Correspondent

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