Game Notes: Freeway Series (Game One)

The Los Angeles Dodgers have a comfortable 6-0 lead over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim heading into the eighth inning of Game One of the Freeway Series. As of this point, it looks as if Chan Ho Park will receive his third win of the 2008 Regular Season. He had a spectacular outing tonight, striking out a total of seven batters in six innings of work. Below are some additional notes on the spectacular game thus far.

• Russell Martin smashed a homerun in the bottom of the first-inning to put the Dodgers on the scoreboard. The catcher has smacked eight homeruns in 2008 thus far. Be sure to send him to New York for the 2008 All-Star Game by clicking this link and voting for him.
• In the bottom of the third-inning, the Dodgers perfected a double-steal. Juan Pierre broke for third-base and Russell Martin hustled over to second-base. Unfortunately, neither runners were able to score during the inning.
• After a throwing error pushed Matt Kemp to third-base in the bottom of the fifth inning, Jeff Kent's sacrifice-flyball brought him home. Then, James Loney hit an RBI-single afterwards to put the Dodgers ahead of the Angels, 3-0.
• Justin Speier relieved Angels' pitcher, Joe Saunders, in the bottom of the sixth-inning. Saunders pitched five innings, surrendering two earned-runs on five hits. He did not look as dominant tonight as he did during his last start against the Dodgers.
• In the top of the seventh-inning, Brian Falkborg came in to replace starter, Chan Ho Park, on the mound. Falkborg went on to pitch a perfect frame, striking out one batter. Although he throws a fair share of balls relative to strikes, he has been a sensational asset to the Dodgers' organization in 2008 thus far.
• Andre Ethier put the Dodgers ahead 6-0 over their cross-town rivals with a monstrous three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh-inning. Luis Maza and Russell Martin came in to score on the play. He now has seven homeruns in 2008 thus far.
• Takashi Saito and Jonathan Broxton pitched perfect innings to finish off the Angels in Game One of the Freeway Series. Game Two is scheduled for later today at 10:10 PM EST. Chad Billingsley will be pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Angels' Jered Weaver.

Game Notes: White Sox vs. Dodgers

The Los Angeles Dodgers' late-game with the Chicago White Sox is already underway. Thus far, Derek Lowe has struggled to contain Chicago's offense. For all of you new readers out there, the game notes which I have provided below, are basically the equivalence to a live-blog but with an emphasis on commentary. Also, my game notes attempt to exclude most of the boring and unnecessary details about the game.

Top of the First-Inning

• Orlando Cabrera, AJ Pierzynski, and Carlos Quentin opened up the game by filling up the bases on consecutive hits. Hopefully, Derek Lowe and the Los Angeles Dodgers can get out of this mess without surrendering a ton of runs. But with bases-loaded and no outs, it looks as if the White Sox will score some runs this inning.
• Derek Lowe gets Jermaine Dye to strike out swinging for the first out. Dye whiffed on Lowe's 86-MPH slider. When Lowe places his slider well in the strike-zone, it can be one of the deadliest pitches in his repertoire.
• Nick Swisher hit a deep sacrifice-fly to left-field scoring Orlando Cabrera. But, the Dodgers ended the inning on the next play when they got Pablo Ozuna to ground out. The Dodgers are lucky that only one run scored during this inning.
  

Top of the Second-Inning

• The top of the second-inning began with a single by Dewayne Wise. If Derek Lowe continues to open up innings by giving up hits, he won't be pitching deep into tonight's game. Joe Torre won't allow him to surrender endless hits on the mound.
  
• After Derek Lowe struck out Alexei Ramirez, Mark Buehrle connected on a sacrifice-flyball to move Wise to second-base. With runners in scoring-position and only one out in the inning, Dodgers fans must have a bad feeling in their stomach (and it's not from the Dodger Dogs).
  
• Orlando Cabrera scored Wise on an RBI-single. Derek Lowe has given up two runs thus far. On average, he usually surrenders about four runs every nine innings. Since he probably won't be pitching nine innings, does that mean that he will surrender those runs earlier in the game?
  
• Thankfully, the Dodgers ended the inning before it got any worse. AJ Pierzynski grounded out to James Loney who took the ball to the bag himself. On this rate of surrendering one run per inning, Derek Lowe may only last a few more innings before Joe Torre yanks him from the mound.

Bottom of the Second-Inning

• Andy LaRoche grounded into a spectacular double-play tagging James Loney out on the force at second-base. The Dodgers need to buckle down, both offensively and defensively, if they hope to win this game.

Top of the Third-Inning

• Joe Torre must have had a chat with Derek Lowe in the Dodgers' dugout. The hurler retired the side 1-2-3, striking out both Jermaine Dye and Nick Swisher. Evidently, Lowe must have Dye's number thus far in tonight's game.

Top of the Fourth-Inning

• Derek Lowe opened up the fourth-inning by walking Pablo Ozuna on four straight pitches. Then, Dewayne Wise whacked a double pushing Ozuna to third-base. But, the Dodgers got three straight outs on groundballs to end the inning.

Bottom of the Fourth-Inning

• Jeff Kent was called at safe at first-base on a throwing error by Orlando Cabrera. Russell Martin excited Dodgers fans by following up on the play with a single pushing Kent into scoring-position. But, unfortunately, the Dodgers could not capitalize on this scoring opportunity.

Bottom of the Fifth-Inning

• On a 1-1 count, Delwyn Young smashed a deep homerun to left-field. On my other blog, I wrote an article boldly naming him as the future of the Dodgers organization at second-base. He's making me look good tonight.

Top of the Seventh-Inning

• Derek Lowe whiffed both Mark Buehrle and Orlando Cabrera to end the inning. It's surprising to see him dominating this late in the game when he struggled earlier on tonight. Lowe should be able to pitch another inning or so if he doesn't get battered by the White Sox.

Top of the Eighth-Inning

• With one-out in the inning, Carlos Quentin singled to center-field. The Dodgers should be warming up a pitcher in the bullpen right about now. Lowe's time to retire for the night is in the near future.
• Jermaine Dye takes an offering to deep center-field for a two-RBI homerun. Tonight, Derek Lowe, has surrendered a total of four earned-runs (as he usually does). The Dodgers are warming up Cory Wade in the bullpen.
• Cory Wade came in to relieve Derek Lowe after he gave up a single to Nick Swisher. Lowe threw a grand total of 104 pitches tonight. He will probably end up with his seventh loss of the 2008 Regular Season.
• Nick Swisher scored on a terrific Dewayne Wise triple. The Chicago White Sox are simply brutalizing the Dodgers right now. Dodgers fans are probably turning off their television sets across the nation.
• Alexei Ramirez knocked in another run on an RBI-single. The Los Angeles are now trailing the Chicago White Sox, 6-1. It is almost impossible for the Dodgers to stage a comeback with only two more innings left to score. But, then again, anything is possible!

The Rest of the Game

• Troncoso tossed a perfect-frame, but the Dodgers could not score. This game goes down as a loss for the Dodgers. They have an opportunity to seek revenge against the White Sox tomorrow night at 7:10 PM PST (10:10 PM EST). Hopefully, the Los Angeles Dodgers will be more successful tomorrow.
  

Update: Here are highlights of the game:

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Blog Note: I wrapped up my final test in school today. In other words, as Alice Cooper put it, "School's out for summer!"

Game Notes: Dodgers vs. Indians (Finale)

The Los Angeles Dodgers have started their series finale with the Cleveland Indians. Here are some notes on the game thus far:

• It's 94 degrees (F) at game-time on this Sunday afternoon. But surprisingly, the stands are almost empty. Where are all the Dodgers' fans?
• Chad Billingsley started off the game by retiring the side without getting a hit. He did, however, nail Shin-Soo Choo with a 92-MPH fastball. But, the pitch was clean and purely unintentional. 
• Matt Kemp moved Pierre to third-base on a ground-rule double. The Dodgers are fortunate to have two runners in scoring-positions with no-outs.
• James Loney made contact for a two-RBI double in the bottom of the first inning. Juan Pierre and Matt Kemp scored.
• Russell Martin whacked his seventh homerun of the 2008 Regular Season. James Loney scored.
• The first-inning finally comes to a close with the Dodgers leading the Indians, 4-0. It took Paul Byrd 28 pitches to retire the side.
• In the top of the third-inning, the Cleveland Indians struck Chad Billingsley and the Dodgers to score three runs. Thankfully, the inning has now ended and the Dodgers still have a slim lead over the Indians, 4-3.
• In the top of the fourth-inning, Chad Billingsley has already thrown 88 pitches. It would be perfect to hand the ball over to the Dodgers' bullpen in a couple of innings. However, the Dodgers' bullpen is depleted.
• Luis Maza robbed slugger, Grady Sizemore, of a hit in the top of the fourth-inning. Maza made a tremendous over-the-head catch to end the half.
• In the bottom of the fourth-inning, Grady Sizemore got his revenge. The centerfield made a spectacular diving-catch to help Paul Byrd retire the side 1-2-3.
• Peralta tried to score on a David Dellucci-double in the top of the fifth-inning. But, a tailor-made relay to home gets him out.
• Hong Chih-Kuo replaced Chad Billingsley in the top of the sixth-inning. Billingsley ends the day pitching five innings and giving up three earned-runs.
• Joe Beimel and Jonathan Broxton make appearances, both striking out one batter. It's surprising to see Beimel pitching today, considering his last outing was yesterday.
• Takashi Saito came in to close the game to pick up his eleventh save of 2008. Jamey Carroll was called out on strikes to end the game.

I started off this blog post with a couple of notes about today's game, but it eventually turned into a Live Blog. I thought that the Dodgers did a spectacular job picking up the win today although Chad Billingsley was a bit shaky in his outing. Luckily, the Dodgers have an off-day tomorrow to rest their pitchers and bullpen.

Blog Note: I have added a blog-roll to the side of this blog. As you can see, this blog is still under construction and I am changing the theme every second. Hopefully, I will find a clean, SEO-friendly theme by the end of the week. Until then, please mind our renovation.

Update: Here is a video clip showing the highlights from the exciting game.