Dodgers Lose Hanley To Injury, Then Lose Depressing Game To Giants

This season keeps getting worse and worse, with no signs of getting any better. The Dodgers are becoming almost unwatchable as every game follows the same script. The team can’t score runs, the bullpen is horrendous, and every day another key player succumbs to injury. So tonight’s game was no different from any other this season. So it’s not surprising when the Giants came back from a 1-0 deficit to tie, and then rally for the win in the bottom of the ninth on a Buster Posey solo home run off of Ronald Belisario.

I can’t ignore what’s right in front of our faces any longer. This just isn’t a very good team. Plain and simple. How much longer can we keep saying that it’s early? The team hasn’t played well at all this season. This is turning into a thoroughly forgettable season. The injuries keep mounting. There seems to be no end in sight.

So before the game we learned that Ted Lilly was placed on the DL with a strained right rib cage. No not the shoulder, or the neck, or his rusty back. Now it’s his rib strain. Rookie Matt Magill will get the start against Ryan Vogelsong tomorrow.

The Dodgers started the game without placing either Mark Ellis, or Carl Crawford on the disabled list. They are still in limbo, listed as day-today, and I have no idea why the Dodgers refuse to call anyone up from the minors. Continuing to play with a short bench is just stupidity. Although Crawford did pinch-hit in the game, and both payers were seen doing running drills on the field before the game. Then of course less than an hour before game time, Adrian Gonzalez was scratched with a sore neck. This was an injury he suffered in Wednesday’s game, when he bumped into an umpire accidentally.

Kershaw did all he could, but can’t do everything

Then in the top of the sixth the Dodgers lost Hanley Ramirez again to injury. This time it was on a pulled hamstring, while he was trying to go from first to third on a base hit from A.J Ellis. After sliding into the bag, he came up lame. Of course he was thrown out, and then had to be helped off the field.

Clayton Kershaw pitching after just losing his father pitched his heart out again, but the pathetic offense was nowhere to be found. Kershaw pitched seven strong frames allowing just one run, on three hits, three walks and five whiffs. Kershaw didn’t allow a hit until the sixth inning, and still only gets a no-decision because the feeble offense can’t score any runs.

The Dodgers had 17 runners reach base and got eleven hits, and only scored one run. This was the first time since 1995 that the Dodgers had that many runners on base and not score more than one run. The Dodgers had runners on base in every inning, and only scored once. The lone run came thanks to Kershaw’s bat. After a lead-off double in the top of the fifth, he was sacrificed to third, and then scored on a Nick Punto RBI single.

Kershaw scores the lone Dodger run in the fifth inning.

Kershaw’s opponent on the mound was veteran Barry Zito, who was constantly pitching from the stretch all night. Still he was able to get out of every jam, thanks to the Dodgers.

With the Dodgers up 1-0, in the bottom of the sixth, the Giants evened the score when Marco Scutaro tripled over Matt Kemp’s head, and then scored on a Buster Posey RBI double. The Dodgers prevented a second run from scoring when Posey was thrown out at the plate on a cannon throw from Matt Kemp, when he was trying to score on Hunter Pence’s single.

With the game tied at 1-1, Belisario was called in to pitch the bottom of the ninth inning. I’ve mentioned before that the Dodgers have one of the worst bullpens in all of Baseball, and so Belisario wasted no time serving up a walk-off home run to Buster Posey. That was it. The Dodgers lose 2-1.

The Dodgers are a disorganized mess right now, and they lack the fundamentals of the game. Changes must be made now, before more days start to tick off the calendar. The losses are just piling up now, and will keep doing so until some changes are made. How long are they going to do nothing?

The Dodgers fall to 13-15, and their problems are no different from last year. They can’t win at home. They can’t win in their division, and they are one of the worst base running teams in Baseball. They can’t hit with runners in scoring position, and the bullpen blows any and all leads obtained.

We’ll have more injury updates for you tomorrow when we know more information. Again, Hanley Ramirez had to leave the game in the sixth inning after pulling his hamstring trying to go from first to third on a base hit. Tomorrow night’s game time starts at 6:10 PM, and is televised on KCAL. Rookie Matt Magill will try to lift the Dodgers spirits somehow. The Giants will send right hander Ryan Vogelsong to the mound to counter.