Lucky Bloopers Help Dodgers Edge Out Rockies

Dodgers 2 7 0

Rockies 1 4 0

WP- Harang (2-2)

LP- Outman (0-1)

S- Jansen (3)

The Dodgers look to lengthen their lead in the NL West by taking this series versus Colorado with a win tonight. Aaron Harang, who has struggled on the road, will try to contain CarGo and the rest of the Colorado lineup as he goes up against Juan Nicasio. Justin Sellers will be on hand tonight after being called back up to replace a disabled Jerry Hairston Jr. Sellers spent only two days down in AAA with the Isotopes before rejoining the big club for tonight. Last night we had a good win behind another solid start from Chris Capuano. We even witnessed a rarity-a Juan Uribe homerun. I thought I may be hallucinating when I saw it happen. Hopefully it won’t take another near-full season for him to hit another.

Aaron Harang has an easy breezy first winning, and he sends the Rockies down in order.

Dee Gordon leads off the bottom of the first with a whiff, but Mark Ellis comes back and knocks a single to center field. Matt Kemp, slumping of late, hits in to a double play.

Todd Helton draws a one-out walk in the second for Colorado, but the Rockies do little else in the inning.

Juan Nicasio strikes out the side in the bottom half of the second. Andre Ethier chases a bad ball and goes down on strikes, Bobby Abreu strikes out right after him, and the strikeout parade concludes with Juan Uribe.

Wilin Rosario, the Colorado catcher, hits a big double over Kemp’s head to begin the third. Juan Nicasio’s sacrifice bunt moves Rosario to third base. Marco Scutaro reaches on a Fielder’s Choice when Loney saves a run with a diving stop and then alertly throwing to first to get Rosario out at the plate. Jonathan Herrera promptly doubles down the right field line, and Scutaro moves over to third on the play. The Dodgers then intentionally walk Cargo to load the bases up for Troy Tulowitzki. This is a smart move by Don Mattingly. Tulowitzki flies out to center, and Harang escapes unscathed after Loney erases the run at the plate.

Loney, the hero of the previous inning, leads off in the bottom of the third. Loney strikes out, and we wonder how he can be so good with the glove but he can’t hit a lick. Michael Cuddyer makes a nice catch on a liner by A.J. Ellis for the second out. Aaron Harang hits a little nubber towards first base, and it’s a scoreless match through three.

Harang gets the help of some good defense in the fourth to put the Rockies out in order. James Loney makes a nice pick at first on a lobbed throw by Uribe on Cuddyer’s grounder. Uribe makes up for it with a nice catch as he hangs over the railing of the Dodger dugout to get Colvin out in foul territory.

Dee Gordon grounds out, and his lifeless hitting continues. Nicasio blows Ellis away with a 95 mph fastball. Matt Kemp makes a very long out to straight away center field right before the wall. He looks like he is getting frustrated.

Aaron Harang hits Rosario with a pitch to lead off the fifth inning for the Rockies. A.J. Ellis nails Rosario as he attempts to steal second with Nicasio at the plate. Nicasio strikes out swinging for the second out. Scutaro flies out to Kemp to end the inning.

Dre leads off by hitting his 11th double of the season which goes all the way to the wall. Abreu flies out for the first out. Juan Uribe bloops a dunking base hit to center on a 0-2 count, and Ethier scores to give the Dodgers 1-0 lead. *TOOTBLAN alert* Juan Uribe is picked off for the second out. James Loney strikes out for a second time to end the inning.

The Rockies go down in order in the top of the sixth inning.

A.J. Ellis singles hard up the middle to lead off the bottom of the sixth as the ball skims Nicasio’s glove as it goes in to center field. Aaron Harang strikes out trying to bunt. Gordon grounds out, and Mark Ellis lines out.

In the seventh, the Rockies tie up the game on a Tyler Colvin two-out homerun. Luckily they turned a double play on a Cuddyer groundball after Todd Helton began the inning with a single. Harang comes back to strikeout Rosario after allowing the homerun.

Matt Kemp leads off the bottom of the seventh and hits yet another deep fly ball that seems to just die right at the warning track. Andre Ethier smacks a single right in to center. Abreu strikes out looking for his second whiff of the game. Juan Uribe hits a very long ball to deep center field which dies right before the wall. It seems like the cold night air is affecting the long ball tonight for the Dodgers.

Harang pitches a scoreless inning thanks again to some good defense from Loney and Mark Ellis in the infield. Aaron Harang has now pitched 8 innings-his longest start as a Dodger yet.

Josh Outman (laugh out loud at that name) comes in to relieve Nicasio in the eighth inning. Juan Nicasio goes 7 innings allowing 5 hits, 1 run, no walks, and 9 strikeouts on 102 pitches.

James Loney gets a lucky end-of-the bat dribbling single to lead off the inning against the wild lefty. Matt Belisle is brought in to face A.J. Ellis. Ellis is asked to bunt, and Loney advances to second. Tony Gwynn Jr. comes in to pinch-hit for Harang, and comes up clutch once again for the Dodgers. The Dodgers’ luck continues as Gwynn flares a single to cash in Loney, and the Dodgers take a 2-1 lead. Gwynn also takes second on the play. Gordon pops out, and he goes 0 for 4 on the night as his struggles continues.

Aaron Harang pitched 8 innings, allowing 4 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, and 2 strikeouts on 97 pitches.

Kenley Jansen comes in to close for the Dodgers in the ninth, but he must get through the heart of the Rockies’ lineup beginning with CarGo. Jansen wins that battle has he gets him swinging on a high fastball. Next is The Mullet Man who flies out to left field. Todd Helton makes the final out on a pop fly to Uribe.

It’s nice to see Harang go deeper in a game, and our bench came through with Tony Gwynn’s RBI pinch-hit. Jansen picks up his third save of the year and his first save since being promoted to the closer role. The Dodgers win their 22nd game, and they are now 11 games above .500 at 22-11.

Tomorrow at 1:10 pm Ted Lilly and Alex White will go up against each other on Mother’s Day in the concluding game of the series.

Be sure to follow us on Twitter @LasordasLair and yours truly @organicallyrude

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