Jackie Robinson Weekend
Series Recap—Dodgers vs San Diego
4/13: Dodgers 9, Padres 1
4/14: Padres 7, Dodgers 2
4/15: Dodgers 9, Padres 3
The Dodgers took two out of three similar blowouts. In all of them the losing pitcher didn't make it out of the third inning, whilst the winning pitcher cruised along. The good news is that LA did well against a team that manhandled them last year. The better news is that the Dodgers bullpen outperformed the Padres vaunted bullpen despite the fact that it was Hendrickson and Seanez who got most of the work.
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Jason Schmidt was awful in the loss, pretty much throwing batting practice to the Padres. He was better in his first two starts, but nowhere near what was expected, even off of last year's performance. Is he hurt? Is it mechanical? Curt Schilling had a similar outing Opening Day, but bounced back strong in his recent starts. Schmidt's next turn comes on Thursday against the Rockies.
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Some of the bats looked good. Martin and Gonzo continue to pound the ball, Nomar has started to come around, and Ethier finally seems to have busted out last night, including a two-run homer off Scott Linebrink. OTOH, Pierre and Betemit continue to slump. Betemit at least walks once in awhile, but as someone over at DT noted, Randy Wolf had more walks in yesterday's game than Pierre has had all season.
It's tough to know what to do about Pierre. Clearly Colletti spent too much to get him ($44M for 5 yrs.), but he's certainly can't be as bad as he's shown so far, both at the plate and in the field (another error last night). He's got the second longest consecutive game streak going in the majors, a streak he wants to keep alive, even though a rest might do him some good. There are already signs that Grady is thinking about it. He didn't start him Saturday, although he brought him in later, so the streak remains intact. If it were me filling in the lineup, Pierre would be batting eighth until he demonstrates that he can do something other than hit weak ground balls to the infield. If Ethier is getting out of his slump, then maybe Brady Clark can get a couple more starts in center.
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Wilson Valdez had another good game last night, and I have to wonder how he's suddenly blossomed at age 29. Is he just an anomaly? Is he using something? Did he lie about his age when he was originally signed, and is actually 27? It's not just that he's hitting like he never did before, but he's hitting with power. Very strange.
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Next up: Arizona
