Steve Webb
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — It was Pride Night at the stadium last night, but what happened on the field was downright shameful. This should be an article all about Emmet Sheehan. It should be about how this new Dodger pitcher came in an dominated a good big league line-up for six no-hit innings. It should be about how the Dodgers are going to be set for starting pitching for years to come if this start is any indication. It should be about those things, but it won’t. Instead, it’s going to be about how the Dodgers managed to throw away another very winnable game due to bad relief pitching, bad baserunning, and just generally bad baseball.
After the Dodgers jumped out to a 4-0 lead, Sheehan came out of the game with the relief corps needed just nine outs to secure a feel-good victory for everyone involved. They couldn’t manage even that. Brusdar Graterol gave up a two-run home run in the seventh. Victor Gonzalez got rocked in the eighth, and by the time the ninth inning rolled around, the Dodgers were in a 5-4 hole.
But the Dodgers still had some life in the them in the ninth. Miguel Rojas and Mookie Betts started the rally with back to back one-out singles. Freddie Freeman then came through with a single of his own to tie up the ball game. And that was about the last good moment the Dodgers had all night. Nothing much went well from there on out.
First in the ninth, Mookie made a horrible miscalculation and tried to steal third base. He was gunned down by catcher Patrick Bailey and the Dodger rally fizzled shortly thereafter, forcing extra innings.
Then, after neither team could score their free runner in the tenth, all hell broke loose in the eleventh. With few pitching options to choose from, manager Dave Roberts went with the sometimes struggling Alex Vesia to pitch the top of the frame. He didn’t do terrible, but with a place runner, if you give up a walk and a couple of singles, it doesn’t end well. The Giants ended up scoring two in the inning, and put the pressure on the Dodgers big-time in the bottom of the frame.
After a Miguel Rojas groundout, Mookie Betts hit what looked like a routine infield pop-up. But what followed was a league league play of such epically bad proportions that it has to be seen to be believed. Suffice it to say, the Giants’ defense sucked, the Dodgers’ baserunning sucked, the whole play sucked. But at the end of it, Mookie Betts was at third and two men were out. Just Google it. I don’t have the psychic energy to describe this entire sh*tshow myself. Three pitches later, Freddie Freeman was out on strikes and the game was over. What an utterly embarrassing loss.
But the ridiculousness of the horrible ending to this game should not take the spotlight off what was another remarkable find in the Dodger pitching factory: Emmet Sheehan. The numbers were eye popping: 6.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K. A remarkable performance.
“I was just trying to go out there and make it the same game it is in Double-A, which it is. That’s what everyone told me to do,” Sheehan said. “To have the Dodgers fans and my family behind me here at the game, I couldn’t have asked for a better debut, besides a Dodgers win.”
“Emmet was fun to watch, very excited for him, and we made some nice plays behind him,” Roberts said. “I wish we could have ended it with a win.”
You and me both, Dave.
