Forfeit Like Lineup Can’t Back Poor Bills Start in Dodgers 5-1 Loss

The Dodgers begin what should be a very difficult week, without Matt Kemp, by dropping a forfeit induced crapfest to the Dbacks 5-1. This game was eerily similar to the 12-0 crapfest loss in Houston. All of the ingredients for a forfeiture were in place. Crappy Billingsley start? Check. Triple-A filled lineup? Check. Jamey Wright? Check. I understand that it’s not Mattingly’s fault that like half the position players are hurt, but that doesn’t mean it’s ok to just forfeit a game away. The lineup was filled with so many triple players, it looked like the Isotopes were playing instead the Dodgers. Scott Van Slyke and his two major league plate appearances was penciled into the third spot. Jerry Sands was batting sixth in left field, and Justin Sellers was playing third base, and batting eighth. None of these guys have proven they can hit, although Sands was reportedly hitting well in Albuquerque, but I mean come on its Albuquerque. Bills lasted only four plus innings allowing four runs, and the Dodgers could only muster one run on ten hits. Rookie Lefty Wade Miley pitched seven effective innings for Arizona to pick up the win, as the Dbacks plated three runs in a nightmare fifth inning, that saw Bills implode again, allowing six consecutive hits.

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Andre Ethier doesn’t have to wait very long for his first put-out in Centerfield. Gerardo Parra flies out to Dre for the first out. Willie Bloomquist singles. Justin Upton flies out to Dre as well. Miguel Montero the Dbacks catcher pops out to short.

Gordon begins the frame by whiffing on a called third strike like a statue. Mark Ellis singles to center. Scott Van Slyke grounds into a force. Miley tosses to Hill, at second to erase Ellis, but he drops the ball while trying to throw, and Van Slyke is safe at first. Ethier whiffs on a low breaking ball to end the first.

Top of the second. Jason Kubel leads of the second inning with a fly ball double down the left field line, that Jerry Sands takes a terrible route towards, easily allowing Kubel into second base. Bills then comes back to whiff Ryan Robers, also known as the tattoo man. Lyle Overbay grounds out to Sellers. The Dodgers intentionally walk Aaron Hill to pitch to the opposing pitcher Wade Miley. Apparently Miley is a good hitting pitcher, with five hits on the season and a .417 average. The Dodgers go after him anyways, and get him to strike out, but it’s a wild pitch, of course, and Miley beats out A.J. Ellis’s throw to first and the bases are loaded. Then the walkapalooza continues as Parra walks to force in a run to make it 1-0 Arizona. Finally Bloomquist flies out to center to end the threat, and the Dodgers get out of it cheaply enough.

Bottom of the second. A.J. Ellis leads off ang whiffs. Jerry Sand’s bat explodes on a pop fly single into right field that drops in front of Upton. Then as expected James Loney grounds into an inning ending double play. Remember Loney is a ground ball expert. He didn’t go to eight years of ground ball doctorate school to get hits.

Top of the third. Bills retires the Dbacks in order 123. Bottom of the third. Sellers whiffs. Bills fouls out. Gordon singles. Ellis singles Gordon to third. Van Slyke grounds into a force out to dash any hopes of scorage.

Roberts reaches on an infield single to start the fourth, but is erased when Overbay grounds into a 6-3 double play. Gordon makes a good play to glove the grounder and step on second base and the throw to first in time for two. Hill whiffs to end the frame. Bottom of the fourth. Miley plunks Ethier in the back with a pitch. Immediately we are reminded of the bad blood between the two teams carrying over from last season. A.J. grounds into a double play. Then of course Sands whiffs like a statue and the inning is over rather quickly.

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Top of the fifth. Bills begins to do his typical mid inning implosion. The Dbacks single Bills to death by starting the inning with six consecutive singles to score three runs. Upton, Montero, and Kubel all picking up RBIs. Finally Bills is so horrendous he forces Mattingly to hook him. Javy Guerra enters as Bills storms off to the dugout to cry and pout like a little baby. Of course Bills could sit down with Mattingly and Honeycutt and figure out why he has been so awful of late, but instead he chooses to throw another tantrum. Good call Bills! Mattingly is seen talking to Bills in the dugout as this is the second start in a row where he doesn’t make it through the fifth inning. Kubel another single makes it 4-0 Arizona. Roberts grounds into a double play. Hill’s force out finally ends a nightmare frame for the Dodgers.

In the bottom of the fifth, we get our first look at Elian Herrera who makes his first appearance, pinch-hitting for Guerra, and pops out. The Dodgers go down in order again.

Jamey Wright pitches a scoreless top of the sixth. The Dodgers try and put together a little rally in the sixth, but eventually strand two runners after scoring their first run of the game. Mark Ellis does his best Matt Kemp impression by hitting a monster home run over the center field wall. Van Slyke flies out. Ethier and AJ both single. Sands ruins the rally with a fly out.

The Dbacks get yet another run off of Jamey Wright in the top of the seventh. Arizona plates the run on two singles from Montero and Roberts, and a sac fly from Overbay. The score is now 5-1 Arizona. The Dodgers strand two more runners in the bottom of the seventh off of Miley. Sellers walked. Gwynn a pinch-hit single. Gordon flies out. Bryan Shaw comes in to relieve Miley, and ends the inning by getting Mark Ellis to fly out.

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Somehow Todd Coffey gets through an inning without surrendering a run, but it was painful. The top of the eighth included two walks but that’s all. Bottom of the eighth, David Hernandez shuts down the Dodgers, and J.J. Putz Arizona’s closer only allows a meaningless Adam Kennedy single, before getting Gordon to foul out to end the game.

With that, the crapfest is done. This is only the Dodgers fourth loss at home. I think the Dodgers should put the rookies on the bench, and put Abreu and Gwynn back in the lineup. Gwynn has been hitting really well, and Abreu is way better than any of the Isotopes in the lineup tonight. It was Mark Ellis who was the offensive star tonight going 3 for 4 with a home run. The Dodgers finish the home-stand at 6-2, and will drive down to San Diego for a quick two game series. Tomorrow is a business man’s afternoon special. A 3:35PM start time on KCAL 9. It will be a battle of lefties, Chris Capuano for the Dodgers looking for his sixth win of the season, countering Clayton Richard for San Diego. It might be a long two weeks Dodger fans. Until tomorrow. Go Blue.