Pale Hose One Up Dodgers to Even Series

There was no magic tonight at Dodger Stadium, as the Dodgers dropped the second game of this three game series with the Pale Hose by a score of 5-4. The Dodgers fell behind 4-0 early as Chad Billingsley took another step back with a mediocre performance. However it was another costly infield error, this time from Jerry Hairston, that led to Chicago’s fifth and decisive run in the top of the fourth. This was after the Dodgers staged another amazing rally, scoring four runs in the bottom of the third off of Humber to come back and tie the game. That was all they could get, as they would not score for the rest of the game, and of course left enough men on base to form a small country for base runners. While the Dodgers were 4 for 12 with RISP, they left seven men on base. The Chicago win evens the series at one game each. The Dodger third inning saw the boys in blue score four runs off six hits, all singles. Run scoring singles from Abreu, AJ, and Loney, plus a sac fly plated the four runs. Fortunately for the Dodgers, Seattle beat the Giants and Tim Lincecum 7-4, and the Dodger’s lead stays at four games.

Top of the first. Alejandro De Aza flies out to right to lead off the game. Gordon Beckham flies out to center. Adam Dunn the ogre, grounds out weakly to second base, and Bills has a nice easy 123 inning.

Bottom of the first. Dee Gordon fouls off a bunch of pitches before looking like a statue as he is called out on strikes. Elian Herrera continues to be awesome, and draws a walk. Andre Ethier smacks a base hit through the hole in right, Herrera races into third, and the Dodgers have runners at first and third with one out. Of course Jerry Hairston grounds into an inning ending double play to halt any hopes of scorin’.

Top of the second. Paul Konerko the former Dodger doubles. Alex Rios, who hit two home runs last night, singles into center, sending Konerko to third. A.J. Pierzynski whiffs, while Rios steals second base. Of course Alexei Ramirez flares a blooper into center field to score two runs. Ramirez takes second on the throw home. Chicago takes the lead 2-0. Orlando Hudson grounds out, advancing Ramirez to third. Opposing starter Phillip Humber chops a base hit down the line, over Loney’s head, to score Ramirez, and make it a 3-0 game. De Aza flies out to left to end the frame.

Bottom of the second. Bobby Abreu singles to left. A.J. Ellis flies out. A wild pitch advances Bobby to second. James Loney flies out to left. Of course, Juan Uribe uselessly whiffs like a statue to end the inning.

Top of the third. Beckham and Dunn lead off with consecutive singles. Konerko whiffs as Chicago tries a double steal. AJ throws out Beckham at third for a strike em’ out throw em’ out double play. Rios triples on a ball hit over Herrera’s head, as he dives against the wall, but can’t come up with it. Dunn scores, and it is 4-0 Chicago.

Bottom of the third. Bills and Gordon lead off with consecutive singles. It seems as though Bills hits better than he pitches during some starts. Herrera shows bunt, but flies out to right. Ethier a base hit up the middle into shallow center, moves everyone up 90 feet, to load the bases. Hairston’s deep sac fly to center scores Bills, and Gordon and Ethier both tag up. The Dodgers still trail 4-1. Bobby Blue singles to left to score Dee, and the lead is cut to 4-2. AJ singles to center to score Ethier, and Loney immediately follows with a single to right, to score Abreu to tie up the game at 4-4! That’s six singles in the inning to score four runs! Amazing! Uribe ends the inning with a ground out.

The White Sox retake the lead with a run in the top of the fourth. Ramirez is hit by a Bills pitch. He then steals second with O-Dawg at the plate. Ramirez goes to third, and Hudson reaches on a fielding error from Hairston. Jerry bumbles an easy grounder to put runners on the corners. Humber whiffs trying to bunt. A De Aza force out, scores Ramirez from third to give the Pale Hose the lead 5-4. Beckham grounds out to end the inning.

Bottom of the fourth. Bills singles for his second hit of the night. Gordon flies out. Herrera is called out on strikes. Ethier walks. A wild pitch sends the runners over to second and third. Jhair pops out, as Ramirez races in to make a diving catch for the third out.

Top of the fifth. Bills finally has a scoreless frame, when he walks Dunn, but gets Konerko to ground into a double play, and Rios whiffs. The Dodgers go down in order in the bottom of the fifth, but Humber has now reached 100 pitches. Top of the sixth. Pierzynski singles. Ramirez grounds into a force out. AJ throws out Ramirez trying to steal. Hudson flies out, and Bills has made it through six innings.

Bottom of the sixth. Hector Santiago replaces Humber in the bottom of the sixth. Humber goes six, allows four runs on nine hits, two walks, and four whiffs, and made 99 pitches. Santiago easily retires Uribe, DeJesus, and Gordon to keep the score at 5-4.

Scott Elbert comes in to pitch the top of the seventh. Bills goes six, allows five runs, four earned, off eight hits, one walk, and  whiffs four, and made 92 pitches. Bills goes out on the hook for the loss. Eduardo Escobar whiffs. De Aza reaches on a bunt hit, and steals second. Beckham whiffs for the second out. After a long at-bat, Dunn walks to put runners at first and second. With Konerko coming up, Mattingly hooks Elbert and calls in Jamey Wright. Konerko was hitting .211 off of Wright, as Mattingly goes with the match-up. It works, as Konerko flies out to right to end the frame.

Bottom of the seventh. Santiago is still pitching. Herrera leads off with a walk, and steals second as Ethier is whiffing. Chicago catcher Pierzynski bobbles the ball and can’t make a throw. Chicago manager Robin Ventura hooks Santiago, and calls in right hander Nate Jones. Of course Jones whiffs Jhair like a statue. Bobby pops out and the Dodgers don’t score.

Wright remains in the game for the top of the eighth. Rios grounds out. Pierzynski dribbles out to first. Ramirez singles up the middle. Dayan Viciedo the touted rookie prospect, bounces out to end the inning.

Move to the bottom of the eighth. Jesse Crain, who we saw last night, comes in to pitch. AJ walks. Loney hits into a force out. Tony Gwynn comes in to pinch run for Loney at first. Uribe predictably whiffs on a called check swing. With Rivera pinch-hitting, Gwynn tries to steal second for some stupid reason and is easily thrown out for an inning ending TOOTBLAN that ends the inning and really hurts.

Josh Lindblom pitches the top of the ninth. Escobar walks. De Aza sacrifices him to second. Beckham pops out. Dunn whiffs on a called check swing to end the frame. Bottom of the ninth. Addison Reed comes in to easily close out the game for the White Sox. Rivera first pitch swinging, pops out. Gordon grounds back to the box, and Herrera whiffs to end the game.

I guess we can’t win them all right Dodger fans? When the clutch hit well dries up, it dries up. The Dodgers will look to secure a series win tomorrow. Chris Capuano will take the mound for the Dodgers, Chicago will counter with rookie lefty Jose Quintana. Join us tomorrow on Father’s Day at 1PM for more Dodger Blue coverage. Hey at least we didn’t lose any ground right? Silver linings here guys. Go Blue.