Idiots Write About Sports

Stealing a page from Phil. What a weird game. I enjoyed it (and got to watch it from my company’s swanky Club Level seats in left), because I generally enjoy taut, low-scoring baseball games. But I’m not sure I’d call it well played, given the copious fielding and baserunning blunders.

Your Pitchers of Record: WP — Brad “Bad” Penny (1-0) LP — Noah Lowry (0-1) S — Saito (2)

Went Deep: Are you kidding me?

Your Coca-Cola Star of the Game: Jeff Kent. Remember the Game Winning RBI? A stat so useless that in a world full of useless stats that are kept around for more than a century (I’m looking at you, earned run) it managed only a decade or so before being run into the ground? Well, this is the sort of scenario where the GWRBI actually has some meaning. Kent got a hit, he drove in Nomar Garciaparra, and the Dodgers went ahead to stay.

The Turning Point: Gonna say it was Pedro Feliz fielding a grounder and throwing horribly home, pulling Molina away and allowing Matt Kemp to score. Let’s not forget how Kemp got on base: he chopped one in front of home plate, which Lowry fielded and shotgunned past Ryan Klesko futilely for that classic infield single/pitcher’s throwing error combo. Kemp then advanced to third base on a laughably high wild pitch.

Stop Running!: Much has been made of the story that Bonds has told Vizquel to go ahead and try to steal bases. Proof that the recalcitrant leftfielder might want to stop talking altogether. Vizquel was thrown out with Bonds at the plate. Never let this happen again! It was the first of three Giant outs on the bases. Next up was Ray Durham, who was thrown out trying to steal as Klesko struck out to instantly destroy a second-inning rally.

In the fifth inning, we had the runner-up for turning point of the game. Pedro Feliz, who had reached on a leadoff single, attempted to score on Randy Winn’s double to left. He was gunned down at home. I understand, in a taut 1-1 game, every run matters. But if Feliz holds at third, the Giants have runners at second and third with no outs. Even if Lowry strikes out, Roberts has a good shot to get Feliz in from third with one out. As they say, (Tim) Flannery will get you nowhere.

The Outmaker!: I really, really don’t like Juan Pierre. Wait a second (as Ron Fairly would say) — I take that back. I love Juan Pierre. Because he’s a terrible, terrible player, and he plays for the Dodgers. He bats lead-off because he’s fast, but he’s a prodigious out-maker. Last night Mr. Speed Kills actually managed to ground into a double play. And he let a hit drop in front of him due entirely to the fact that he ran an incompetent route to the ball. Macworld’s own Dan Frakes, who sat next to me and is a Cubs fan, hates Juan Pierre with the hatred that only be felt by someone who has seen Juan play for his very own team. So he can’t hit or field, but hey, he’s fast. Whoo. Let him run like the wind, Grady.

Wrapping Up: The Giants had plenty of chances and ran themselves out of most of them. The Dodgers win it largely because of two hits: Garciaparra’s double, and Kent’s RBI single that immediately followed. Thus are games won and lost in the National League West.

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