A Windy St. Patrick’s Day Night Ends with a Tie

Dodgers 3 8 0

Giants    3 9 1

HR- Belt (3), Cruz (1)

It was a full day of Dodger baseball on Saturday, as the boys in green took on the Rockies in the afternoon and the Giants in the evening. During the day game, the Dodgers fell to Colorado 8-6 even after a late ninth inning rally. Jeremy Guthrie pitched well for the Rockies, and he went 4 2/3 innings only allowing one Dodger run and four hits. Nathan Eovaldi also pitched very well on the Dodgers’ side, and he went three scoreless innings allowing four hits and striking out one batter. Rafael Betancourt, the Rockies’ closer, had a meltdown in the ninth inning when he allowed the Dodgers to rally back and score four runs. Tim Wheeler, a outfield prospect, (who also shares my surname) was the hero for the Rockies after hitting a walk-off homerun to give Colorado the victory. Andre Ethier, who is red hot this Spring, hit two doubles and walked once.

We all have been waiting with anticipation for Vin Scully’s first broadcast all winter. The Dodgers announced earlier in the day, that Vin will be scaling back his schedule a bit. He will no longer be traveling to Colorado for road games, and he will only travel within California and Arizona.

"“It was no big Earth-shattering reason, just to cut back a little bit more on the traveling,” Scully said before Saturday’s night game."

He will still be announcing over 100 Dodger games this season, and we should be so thankful for every inning we spend with him. Like I said on Twitter earlier in the day Saturday, I wouldn’t care if Vin announced the games from his bathroom. He truly is the greatest sportscaster to ever call a game.

Aaron Harang, clothed in his green jersey and green cap along with the other Dodgers, started the nightcap as high winds ripped through Camelback Ranch. The game was sold out, and the 13,655 fans set a record for attendance in Cactus League play. Harang pitched four innings, allowing two runs on seven hits, striking out four and walking none. The rival Giants jumped on top first when Gregor Blanco singled and stole second base in the first inning off Harang. After Brandon Crawford struck out, the other Brandon-Brandon Belt hit what looked like a pop fly, but the winds carried it over the fence giving the Giants a 2-0 lead. The Dodgers scored in the bottom of the first when Justin Sellers started off with a double to left field (I’m really rooting for him to make the team), and he reached third base on a Matt Kemp grounder. Juan Rivera, who has also had a hot bat this Spring, singled in Sellers, 2-1 Giants.

"“Any ball hit in the air is going to be an adventure.” -Vin Scully"

Harang allowed three singles in the second inning, but a double play helps them to erase some of the base runners and escape any damage. Loney singles in the bottom of the inning, but they do nothing more.

Harang strikes out both Brandons in the third inning, allows a single to Brett Pill, but gets Hector Sanchez to groundout to end the inning. In the bottom half, Matt Kemp reaches base safely on a throwing error on third baseman Conor Gillaspie, but Rivera flies out to leave Bison on base.

In Harang’s final inning he only allows a double to Justin Christian before retiring the rest of the batters in order and he calls it a night.

Josh Lindblom comes in to pitch relief in the fifth inning. He strikes out Blanco, and gets the Brandon duo to ground out to retire the side in order. In the bottom of the fifth off of Colorado pitcher Kown, Tim Federowicz singled, and he goes to second base on a two-out walk to Ivan De Jesus. Matt Kemp then flared a single to right scoring FedEx and tying up the game 2-2. Juan Rivera’s line drive is then caught by a sliding catch by Blanco who saves a couple of runs from scoring and preserves the tie game.

Jamey Wright pitches the sixth inning for the Dodgers. Hector Sanchez singles when Juan Rivera is unable to catch a fly ball which drops out from in front of him due to the wind. Emmanuel Burriss then grounds into an inning ending double play. Jerry Sands walks to lead off the bottom of the sixth. Loney then hits into a 4-6-3 double play. Then Luis Cruz jumps on a ball and hits one out! It’s 3-2 Dodgers.

Ronald Belisario comes in to pitch the seventh for the Dodgers. He has a perfect inning, getting two batters to ground out and striking out one. With two out in the bottom of the seventh, Ivan De Jesus hurts his side on a swinging strike against Yourkin. He cannot complete his at-bat, and Lance Zawadzki replaces him and grounds out to end the inning.

Shawn Tolleson, the Dodgers’ 2011 minor league pitcher of the year, goes to the mound in the eighth inning, and he promptly allows a double down the right field line to Blanco. Blanco gets to third on a groundout by Arias. He scores on a sacrifice fly by Brandon Belt. 3-3 tie. Trent Oeltjen who apparently tries to make every hit into an inside the park homerun, gambles and tried to leg out a triple on a double and is tagged out. The Dodgers go down in order.

Ramon Troncoso is the pitcher for the ninth inning. Boos erupt from the crowd when they announce that the post-game fireworks have been canceled due to high winds. Troncoso has a very easy 1-2-3 inning and strikes out Christian swinging to end the inning. In the bottom of the ninth Josh Fields leads off with a single. Luis Cruz bunts over Fields to second. The Giants intentionally walk pinch-hitter Jeff Baisley. The runners advance to second and third on a groundball by Matt Angle.Justin Sellers strikes out to end the inning and game. The Dodgers and Giants end with a tie.

Tomorrow, if weather permits, the Dodgers will play the Angels at 1:05 pm, and the game will be televised on KCAL with Vin Scully announcing. Chris Capuano will go to the mound against Dan Haran of the Angels.

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