Steve Webb
DENVER, CO — Wow. Talk about a letdown. After the thrilling game that was the Dodgers’ extra-inning victory in Atlanta, the Dodgers had what Orel Hershiser euphemistically calls, “a flat tire” on Monday night in the series opener in Colorado. The Dodgers got nothing going at the plate all night. Don’t get me wrong; I like a well-pitched game as much as the next guy. But this, whatever the value of Rockies starter Chad Kuhl was, was just bleh. A lifeless performance.
Anderson gives up two 2-out runs, one two-run shot
Tyler Anderson pitched tonight, and it seemed like he was reverting to his days when he pitched for the Rockies. In other words, not that great. It wasn’t that he was bad. After all, giving up four runs in six innings at Coors Field is an acceptable night most of the time. No, Anderson wasn’t bad. It’s just that there was nothing good happening with his pitches tonight.
In all, he gave up ten hits over the course of the evening. The big blows, if you could call them that, were a pair of two-out RBI singles, one by CJ Cron in the second, and the other from Elias Diaz in the third. Then, in the killing blow, a two-run jack from Jose Iglesias in the sixth. Again, not horrible, but not great. So in a way, we should sort of be impressed that the Rockies only plated four off Anderson given the amount of traffic. Still, this will go down as one of TA’s lesser starts of the year: 6.0 IP, 10 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K.
Dodgers Highlights non-existent
Gavin Lux hit an infield single and a double in the ninth. Freddie extended his hitting streak with a bloop to center. Phil Bickford pitched a 1-2-3 seventh. End of highlights.
Dodger loss halts momentum
Any momentum that the Dodgers might have had coming out of Atlanta has officially evaporated in the Rocky Mountain air. They played like they were more interested in getting back to the hotel than winning a ballgame. And, maybe they were. Inevitable perhaps, but disappointing nonetheless. They look to Clayton Kershaw to pitch them to victory on Tuesday. Same start time: 5:40 PDT. Time for the Dodgers to get their sleep in and get back to business. With the Padres coming up this weekend, there’s no time to take the foot off the gas pedal. It’s got to be vroom time until we hit the All-Star break.
Cans of Corn…
- A trip to another time zone after playing an extra-inning Sunday night game. What do you expect?
- Chad Kuhl came within a few pitches of throwing a “Maddox” (shutout on less than 100 pitches)
- Second straight outing after the near no-no that was less than sharp for Anderson.
- Dave Roberts announced that he’s been asked to be one of the NL coaches for the All-Star game. It’ll be nice to see him there.
- Mookie and Trea still top vote getters in All-Star voting at their positions.
- Max Muncy got stuck in a hotel elevator and had to pry his way out with his bare hands. Metaphor for something there…
- Padres have a quick tune-up with the D-backs before coming to LA.
- It takes a lot to get me to say this, but that game was boring. It just was.
