By Steven Booth
Great pitching was the way of the west last week. Tim Lincecum cooled down a hot Dodgers lineup in a serious way on Saturday afternoon, making guys like Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier look utterly powerless. It was a wake-up call for boys in blue, who spent Friday night shooting missles all over Dodger Stadium off Todd Wellmeyer. Barry Zito looked like Barry Zito again, shutting down the Dodgers until the bullpen came in and let Manny Rameriz hit a two-runner on them.
The Dodger starting pitching also came to life, with whipping boy Vicente Padilla going seven strong innings Friday night, and Clayton Kershaw pitching a gem on Sunday against the aforementioned Zito and the Giants. Even the Padres got in on the act. Kevin Corriea with help of the division’s strongest bullpen, pulled a Lincecum on the powerful DBacks lineup, shutting them down on Saturday.
Biggest of all was the no-no thrown by Ubaldo Jimenez of the Rockies, who totally shut down a not-too-shabby Braves lineup, on Saturday. When the Rockies are trumpeting their pitching as a strength and the Dodgers are on pins-and needles with their own pitching, something is wrong with the world.
When the Rockies biggest worry is scoring runs and the Dodgers are rocketing ten a game (except against the Giants, of course) something is amiss in the universe.
Jimenez struck out seven and walked six, and will most certainly be buying a few dinners for Dexter Fowler, who made a spectacular catch in the seventh inning to save the no-hitter.
The Giants remain in first place, despite losing an ugly series to the Dodgers over the weekend. Wellmeyer got lit up bad on Friday night, and despite the Dodger bullpen’s gracious attempts to let them back in, fell short. Lincecum dominated on Saturday, while the Giant bats feasted on Charlie Haegar’s meatballs.
Sunday was a gem with Kershaw and Zito going mano y mano for much of the game. Zito left with a 1-0 lead and one runner on in the eighth for Sergio Romo, who promptly gave up a two run homer to Manny. Losing the opener Monday night to the Padres was not a good way to start the week.
The hot team now is the Padres, riding a four game winning streak into Tuesday. They swept the Diamondbacks over the weekend, and rode a tenth-inning homer by slugger David Eckstein to a victory over the Giants Monday night. Eckstein has had a hot bat, as has Chase Headley, who hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning to beat the DBacks on Friday, and two run double in the seventh on Tuesday to put away the Snakes for good. The pitching is doing it for them.
Anchored by unknowns like Tim Stauffer, Wade le Blanc and Corriea, plus a fine bullpen still rounded out by the fearsome Heath Bell, they are off to a strong start this year. Perhaps it’s a little early to print playoff tickets and sing “We Are Family”, but they have to be at least a little bit happy in Dago.
Next, like some strange poltergeist, is the Dodgers. They won an ugly series against the DBacks, and won another one against the Giants besides stellar pitching by Lincecum and Zito. Their bats took the weekend off, their bullpen outside of Jonathan Broxton is still an adventure waiting to happen, thank God their starting pitching came through.
Padilla saved himself from the lynch mob by going seven strong innings on Friday night, while Kershaw struck out nine in seven innings on Sunday, giving them a chance to win. He looked ike an ace- although he still walks too many guys.
You gotta show some props to Manny Rameriz. Although he was hurt all weekend and the other Dodger bats were quieted down, he seriously came through in the clutch on Sunday. Maybe it’s the new supplements he’s taking, but it does look like his bat speed has returned, along with his selectivity. The word “stress” obviously is not in his vocabulary, and it paid off Sunday afternoon.
The Rockies look great one day and poor the next. They had a good mid-week series against the Mets, and then lost two out of three against the Braves, the only win coming from Jimenez’s no-hitter. Troy Tulowitski’s coming out of his early season funk, it seems, but the pitching is up-and-down.
Jimenez has been strong, as has Jorge De La Rosa, coming into tonight’s game against the Nationals with a 2.77 ERA. But Jason Hummel has been a bust so far this year, and Aaron Cook hasn’t looked good either. As the pitching goes, so will the Rockies.
It can’t be fun to be a Diamondback fan. The starting pitching has been decent, but the bullpen has been horrendous. Having veteran guys around like Chad Qualls, Aaron Heilman, and Bobby Howry around, should bring stability, but it looks like all they’re bringing is gas cans.
The offense has had it’s moments, but Mark Reynolds will have to hit more than .208 for them to have a chance. After being swept by the Padres, they now have the good fortune to run into the Cardinals. Ouch.
