Lilly Makes Season Debut Tonight, against Padre Noob

Last night was quite a game for young Jeremy to make his game-capping debut, and I must say he came through with flying colors. We had called Jeremy up from the minors, because he was slugging down there, and he comes up here and hits one out of the park. I want to commend Jeremy for doing a great job last night. That was some game last night, with a lot going on, and Jeremy didn’t miss a beat!

Dodger Lineup vs. San Diego

Dee Gordon 6

Tony Gwynn 7

Matt Kemp 8

Andre Ethier9

james Loney3

Jerry Hairston Jr. 4

Adam Kennedy 5

Matt Treanor 2

Ted Lilly 1

Joe Wieland vs. Ted Lilly

*Ughhh, where do I even begin with this lineup? Hairston playing second is fine. Both Ellis’s have the night off. But Loney hitting behind Dre? Look at the bottom of the lineup…Kennedy, Treanor? Well, at least Kemp and Dre are playing. Tony Gywnn gets another start in left field batting second. *

Despite the issues with the shaky middle relief, the Dodgers scored 9 runs off six hits last night. There was a two run infield hit from Justin Sellers, a two run broken bat single from Andre Ethier, an RBI single from Tony Gwynn Jr., and a two run-home run from Matt Kemp. While the sale of the team was being approved in court yesterday, it was the game last night that grabbed the headlines.

There were three amazing things in last night’s game. One was of course the meltdown from our middle relief. The Padres came back from a five run deficit to tie the game at 8-8 in the late innings. The Chase Headley home run off a tired Kenley Jansen tied the game with two outs in the ninth. Only 31,000 and change were on hand during a dark and dreary night at Dodger Stadium to witness Aaron Harang breaking the Dodger record with nine consecutive whiffs and 13 whiffs overall in a no-decision. Harang had some major movement on his fastball last night. We have discovered that Harang and Cappy are pretty good at times, but have trouble getting through the middle innings. The Dodgers then drew four consecutive walks with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to win the game.

In case you missed it though, during Harang’s amazing streak, twitter was happenin’ with Harang love! Harang was trending on twitter, and it was Harangmania at Dodger Stadium! If you missed it, here is Harang’s nine straight whiffs! Where wer you during Harangmania?!

More interesting tidbits about last night’s crazy game. This was the highest run total combined for both teams against each other since the four consecutive home run game on Septembet 18, 2006. Gordon, Kemp. Loney, and Ethier all drew walks. Three were off of flame-throwing Andrew Cashner, and the game winner off of lefty Joe Thatcher. Unbelievable. The Dodgers have the best record in all of baseball at 7-1. The last time the Dodgers were the only team remaining with just one loss, was the year 1955. I think that was a pretty good year for the Dodgers, what do you think?

Tonight Ted Lilly makes his return from the DL, and his season debut against the Padres. Lilly who went on the DL March 26 because of a rusty neck, and he will be going up against a San Diego team that he has always pitched well against. Lilly is 10-4 with a 2.68 ERA and 100 whiffs in his career against the Padres. While Lilly has pitched very well against the Padres, there are a few San Diego players who have hit Lilly in the past. Jeremy Hermida is 4 for 10, Jason Bartlett is 5 for 14 (.357), and Cameron Maybin is 5 for 17. (.313). In case you are wondering, the only current Padre who has hit a home run off of Lilly is Jason Bartlett.

The Padres will counter with rookie Joe Wieland, who will be making his MLB debut tonight. I don’t know much about the 22-year old right hander. Joe Wieland was drafted in the twenty-second round of the 2008 amateur draft from the Texas Rangers, out of Bishop Manogue High School in Reno, Nevada. Wieland, was one of the players the Padres got in the Mike Adams trade. On July 29, 2011, while pitching for the Frisco RoughRiders, he pitched a no-hitter. Let’s hope he doesn’t bring any of that stuff to the mound tonight at the Ravine.

Of course the Dodgers need to make a roster decision. They need to cut someone to make room on the roster for Lilly. I already explained who My choice is…. earlier.  However, last night as I was reading through tweets, and I read a tweet saying that Todd Coffey was receiving treatment for a rusty knee in the clubhouse after the game. If we see Coffey go on the disabled list with a rusty knee, it would mean Josh Lindblom stays, and that is a very good thing. It would make sense though that Coffey has an injury considering he has been absolutely atrocious in his outings thus far. I don’t think he has retired a single batter this year. If I could conjecture a guess it would be that he injured his knee during one of his sprints to the mound. I know it is entertaining and all watching a 275 pound man sprinting out of the bullpen, but he is going to hurt himself doing these sprints. He needs to stop. Regardless, Lindblom is good, and he must stay. As soon as we hear anything about who is being cut, or sent down, we will let you know ASAP.

Stacie will have the recap immediately following tonight’s game. Game two of this three game series is on at 6:10 PM and televised on Prime Ticket. We are also still waiting for the return of Vin Scully, who is still recovering from a bad cold. He is improving and we are told that he could return for tomorrow’s game. Tonight is also a celebration for Dodger Stadium’s Organist Nancy B. Hefley’s  25th anniversary. Tomorrow is also Jackie Robinson day, so it would be fitting for Vin to make it back for that game.

Don’t forget tonight at 8PM I will be having a special podcast with Dodger author and Baseball speaker David Krell, so you don’t want to miss that. Let’s keep the winning ways going, shall we boys? Dodger wins make me swoon! Go Blue