Where's The Plunk?

10-zip Rockies in the 8th. I know it’s Coors, but when NL stolen base leader, Willy Taveras stole 2nd with a 6-0 lead in the 8th, if I were on the mound for the Blue, I might well have plunked the next hitter. Yeah, I know no lead is safe at Coors Field, but the Dodgers are stinking in new and unusual ways against Uzbaldo Jiminez and he’s going the distance. There’s no way on God’s green earth they come back in the 9th from a 6-0 deficit against Jiminez tonight. His fastball has been consistently clocked at 98 miles per hour and there hasn’t been a Dodger since Gary Sheffield who’s hands have been fast enough to hit a pitch thrown that hard. With his slider and change working the way they have been , he’s even tougher. – okay, Matt Kemp just homered to dead center. But it was only 95 MPH – so, Troncoso, who I still believe has no business being in the Bigs, gives up another 4 runs. Humiliating. At any rate, you read it here first. Denver was no place to reinsert young Clayton Kershaw into the rotation. He got pummeled for 5 runs in 4 innings and his control was shaky at best. Now his confidence is in the crapper. But you still have to have some huevos rancheros. You can’t let a team make asses out of you like that, then rub it in your face by stealing bags in the 8th, up by 6 runs. The unwritten rules of baseball specifically state in invisible ink that if someone steals, bunts, hits and runs, does any of the little things to move runners over to run up the score, thus adding to the blowout, either he or the next batter shall be thrown at. No balls.

Okay, I’m actually going to question the venerable Joe Torre. I believe it was the 5th inning. Andy LaRoche leads off with a rare single against a dominating Jiminez. Joe, what does it say to your team when you’re down 5 or 6 runs in the 5th IN COLORADO and you let relief pitcher Jason Johnson hit??? Yeah, sure, you want to conserve your bullpen, but you just can’t in that situation. You have to take any opportunity you have to get some runs on the board and make something happen. Naturally, Johnson grounded into a DP and for all intents and purposes that was the inning and the game. In essence, Joe Torre conceded the game to the Rockies with that decision.

Remember how the Dodgers had the lowest ERA in the NL at the break? I’m fairly certain you can say goodbye to that. They haven’t had a decent start from anyone since the break ended and it’s a scary proposition. If their starting pitching starts failing them, they’ve sprung their last leak in an already extremely porous boat. Meanwhile, the Snakes and some dude named Petit are schooling the mighty Cubbies and it looks like the DBacks will return to their lone spot atop the West.

Well, if you’ve been reading this blog, you gotta think it’s pretty interesting that the Rockies have been playing their young 2 million dollar bonus baby, Ian Stewart at 3rd base. He hit a towering dong against Johnson tonight. Could it be that Atkins, who’s been playing 1st for the injured Todd Helton, could be more expendable than first imagined? My guess is,, if Ned Colletti has any live brain cells left in his head after years of breathing in the smoke he’s been blowing up people’s butts, he’s trying to make a deal for Atkins. Whether or not he’ll be successful remains in question. Ned Colletti, you have 8 days. Oh, crap. My rent is due in 8 days, and, as usual, I don’t have it!