The Curse of the Squirrel Dooms Dodgers

Dodgers 3 10 4

Rockies 13 15 0

WP- Ottavino (1-0)

LP- Capuano (7-2)

HR- Rosario (8), Nelson (1), Cuddyer (7)

In what could easily be called the worst game of the season, the Dodgers lose their fifth game in a row as the red hot Rockies win their fifth.

The game was doomed from the start as infielders were playing out of position and were shuffled around as they made error after error. Our infield is in shambles, and something drastic needs to be done. With the loss of Mark Ellis, the middle infield is a defensive time bomb. The only glimmer of hope in this blowout was Alex Castellanos‘s first MLB start. Castellanos had a triple and single which drove in two of the Dodgers three runs. Hopefully we will be seeing a lot more from him. If you are a glutton for punishment, read on to find out how things turned so sour…

Josh Outman heads to the mound for the Rockies in hopes of capitalizing on the Dodgers’ woes. Tony Gwynn has a very nice at bat to lead things off. He bloops a single to right field after going 3-2. Ivan De Jesus flies out. Andre Ethier singles. With Jerry Hairston Jr. at bat, Tony Gwynn steals third base. Then of course JHair hits into the double play. But of course.

Chris Capuano, the veritable “ace” of the team, will vie for his eighth win of the year. Cappy starts out by striking out Dexter Fowler. Marco Scutaro pops out in foul territory. Luckily the bases are empty for Carlos Gonzalez who gets a broken bat single to right. CarGo is thrown out as he tries to go to second on a pickoff attempt. The ball gets away from Van Slyke, but he gets to it in time to throw him out.

Scott Van Slyke makes the first out in the second inning on a softly hit broken bat grounder. Alex Castellanos strikes out. Matt Treanor draws a two-out walk. Dee Gordon whiffs to end any chance or hope of scoring any sort of runs whatsoever.

Michael Cuddyer reaches base safely on a throwing error by Ivan De Jesus which the umpires say pulls Van Slyke off the bag [ERROR #1]. Cuddyer tags up and goes to second on a fly out by Todd Helton. The throw by Castellanos bounces right by JHair. Cuddyer tags up again on a Jordan Pacheco fly ball. Wilin Rosario draws a two-out walk. With DJ LeMahieu batting, Matt Treanor fakes a throw to second then throws to third. Ivan De Jesus is nowhere to be found, and Treanor’s throw goes right into left field [ERROR #2].  Two runs score. That’s how our luck is going.

Cappy strikes out, Gwynn pops up, and IDJ strikes out in the top of the third.

In the bottom of the third Cappy only allows a walk to Scutaro.

In the fourth, Carlos Torres comes into relieve Outman who had already reached his predetermined pitch count. Scott Van Slyke gets a two-out double which bounces around the right field corner. Alex Castellanos gets his first Major League hit and RBI on a triple which scores Van Slyke. We got a glimpse of his speed and extra base power. Very nice! It’s 2-1 in favor of the Rockies. Matt Treanor draws a walk. Dee Gordon halts all the momentum and ends the inning by grounding out.

Josh Outman pitched 3 1/3 innings allowing 2 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk, and 5 strikeouts on 55 pitches.

Cuddyer walks to lead off the bottom of the fourth. Todd Helton singles as Jerry Hairston makes a nice stop, but throws the ball away trying to throw to Cappy covering first [ERROR #3]. Cuddyer advances to third on the error. Pacheco grounds into a double play, but Cuddyer scores giving the Rockies a 3-1 lead. Rosario is thrown out by Dee who makes a great backhanded throw from deep in the hole.

Tony Gwynn Jr. walks with one out in the fifth. With IDJ batting, Gwynn steals his second base of the night. De Jesus whiffs for the second time tonight. Ethier grounds out.

Fowler singles with two outs in the bottom of the fifth after Cappy gets LeMahieu to fly out and Torres strikes out. Scutaro singles. The third single in a row comes off the bat of CarGo, and the Rockies tack on another run to their lead, 4-1. The inning finally ends when Cuddyer grounds into a force out.

Hairston opens the sixth with a walk, and he takes second on a wild pitch. Van Slyke comes up with his second hit of the night. Castellanos comes up with an opportunity here with runners at the corners and nobody out. Alex picks up his second RBI on a sacrifice fly as Hairston brings in the run. 4-2. A New pitcher comes in for Colorado. Adam Ottavino, a right-hander, will pitch to Treanor with one out and a runner at first. Treanor and Gordon both strike out.

Todd Helton leads off the bottom of the sixth with a big stand-up double. Ethier has to wait for it to bounce off the wall. Then there is a squirrel delay, as a bushy-tailed friend runs around the field for a minute. Hey, can that squirrel play third base? Wilin Rosario crushes a two-run homerun, and now the Rockies have taken a substantial 6-2 lead. Cursed squirrel! LeMahieu walks, and with Ottavino the pitcher batting, LeMahieu advances to second on a wild pitch. Then LeMahieu steals third. In the middle of the at bat Mattingly decides to make a pitching change with a 2-2 count on the pitcher. Very odd. De Jesus moves over to second base, and Hairston will play at short. Elian Herrera comes in to play third base. Jamey Wright comes in, and he gets the last strike on Ottavino to strike him out. But it’s not over. Fowler reaches on a throwing error by Hairston who is playing out of position [ERROR #4].  LeMahieu scores. Scutaro singles, and Fowler scores. The inning finally concludes on a CarGo groundout, but the heavy damage is done as the Rockies take a 8-2 lead.

Chris Capuano pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing 7 hits, 7 runs (4 earned), 4 walks, and 3 strikeouts on 98 pitches.

Herrera leads off the seventh inning with a single. Tony Gwynn grounds into a Dodger mainstay-a double play. IDJ doubles (which would have been nice if you know there was guys on base). Ethier strikes out.

Cuddyer leads off the bottom of the seventh with a single up the middle off Wright. Cuddy then steals second with Helton in the box. Helton walks. Pacheco loads up the bases with nobody out with an infield single. Rosario grounds into a force, and Cuddyer scores. Then more scoring: LeMahieu singles which plates yet another run. 10-2. Pinch-hitter Eric Young ground into a force out. Fowler continues the hit fest with a single, and it’s now officially a blowout as the Rockies take a 11-2 lead. Scutaro flies out to end the ugly frame.

Hairston doubles to lead off the eighth against Matt Belisle who is now pitching for Colorado. Van Slyke grounds out. Castellanos singles, and Hairston scores on a Treanor ground out. James Loney pops out, but the Dodgers add one run, 10-3.

Josh Lindblom takes over in the bottom of the eighth for poor Jamey Wright who took the beating. Chris Nelson and  Michael Cuddyer then hit back-to-back homeruns, and the Rockies lead 13-3.                   

Esmil Rogers is asked to pitch the ninth. Gwynn doubles with one out, but Adam Kennedy makes the final out. We are finally out of our misery.

The Dodgers now fall to 32-20 but remarkably still retain the best record in baseball. Their lead in the NL West is shrinking, and they are 4

games ahead of the Giants.

Tomorrow afternoon Aaron Harang will try to halt this losing streak as the Dodgers and Rockies play game two at 1:10 pm. Hang tough, Dodger fans. We’ll get through this.