Dodgers 4 Giants 5: Baseball is Stupid

The Dodgers looked on their way to another game-winning homer, but those stupid Giants wouldn’t die.

Scott Kazmir had a very Scott Kazmir-ish start, which is definitely not as cool as a Clayton Kershaw-ish start. Kazmir got his first two outs with four pitches, but issued back-to-back two-out walks and followed that up with back to back singles, which gave the Giants an early 2-0 lead. However, Kazmir settled down nicely and while he had some issues with walks, he faced the minimum from the second to the sixth inning.

Trayce Thompson made things happen in the second, as he hit a leadoff single off Jeff Samardzija. He tagged up on a fly ball to second and hustled his way to an extra base, which was cashed in on a Yasmani Grandal single. The Dodgers tied it up with a two-out single by Justin Turner, who crushed the ball in his first three plate appearances following his game-winning homer last night. Adrian Gonzalez drilled a ball to the wrong part of the ballpark, as all he had to show for it was a 414 foot RBI double.

Kazmir allowed a single and a walk in the sixth before being pulled for Louis Coleman. Coleman had a tough task, as he was brought in with two on and no outs to face Buster Posey and Matt Duffy. Coleman did his job exceptionally, as he got two double play balls. However, the Dodgers couldn’t turn either double play, as Chase Utley double clutched the first one and had to throw off-balanced on the second one. They got two outs on the two groundouts, but the Giants took the lead.

The Dodgers probably deserved to lose this game. They gave the Giants too many free opportunities and they kept biting themselves. In the fourth inning, Joc Pederson doubled and Yasmani Grandal walked with one out. For some reason, Joc tried stealing third with the eighth hitter at the plate and was thrown out, which hurt more when Howie Kendrick lined a single to right. Instead of scoring Joc with one out, that put runners on the corners for Kazmir, who is a pitcher and therefore grounded out to end the inning.

They TOOTBLAN’d again in the seventh, after Enrique Hernandez drew a pinch hit walk and Chase Utley singled him to third. Corey Seager hit back to the box and reliever Josh Osich made a nice snag, and for some reason Kiké was going on contact and was hung out to dry. Adrian Gonzalez walked to load the bases with two outs, and Thompson drew a bases loaded walk to tie the game. The Giants used FIVE freaking relievers in the seventh, which has to be some sort of record.

Turns out, using five relievers in an inning isn’t the best strategy. The game went to extras and the Giants had two relievers left, one of whom was a spot starter. Chris Stratton was called on in the tenth, and was promptly greeted with an opposite field dinger by Gonzalez to put the Dodgers up.

Kenley Jansen came in and, for the second straight night, just looked off. His cutter didn’t cut at all and he wasn’t striking out batters like he normally does. The Giants are one of the best contact-teams in baseball, but they were squaring up Jansen pitches. Denard Span laced a double to right and Joe Panik singled him in to tie the game back up. A blooper fooled Thompson to put a runner in scoring position, and Buster Posey hit a single to walk off.

Next: Dodgers Day One Draft Picks

Overall, this loss stings just a bit more than other losses. Much like those losses in May in San Diego, the bullpen was great with the exception of Jansen, the one guy that has to be great. He usually is, but his pitches have just not had that same umph in this series. Credit the Giants, they work counts and make contact as well as any team in baseball. But Jansen not doing his job was the different between a two game NL West lead and a four game lead. The Dodgers had a chance to steal one despite a couple TOOTBLAN’s, some questionable strike calls and seven walks from pitchers. So they probably deserved to not be in the game, which makes the walk-off loss that much dumber.

The Dodgers look to get back on track tomorrow on Sunday Night Baseball. Julio Urias and Jake Peavy are the scheduled starters. I guess I should explain the picture if you weren’t watching the game. Posey swung and missed and his bat ended up all the way up there in the screen. That’s gonna be my memory from this game.