First question to Joe Torre after the game was why it was Ronald Belisario out there with a one-run lead in the eighth inning (he let it get away) instead of Hong-Chih Kuo, the guy who was supposed to fill that role all season. What Joe said, in that way that Joe is so good at of saying something without really saying it, is that he doesn’t feel he can trust Kuo right now with a game on the line.
“We’re still working on that with him,” Torre said. “He is all right physically, but we’re just trying to get him into a situation more toward the middle of the game before we get him into the back end of a game.”
Kuo seemed understanding of that, given that he failed to get out of the eighth inning of both of his two most recent appearances and retired only one of the six total batters he faced in those outings. He hasn’t been in a game since Friday.
“I’m just trying to get ready for every day and get myself ready for whenever they want me to pitch,” he said.
Belisario was standup about letting this one get away, said he wasn’t nervous at all, but I have never seen a guy who wasn’t nervous throw a wild pitch while trying to INTENTIONALLY WALK somebody. Come to think of it, I have never seen ANY pitcher throw a wild pitch while trying to intentionally walk somebody, so maybe I should cut Belisario some slack.
Good effort by Randy Wolf tonight, got through seven strong innings on just 91 pitches. But he blamed himself for the loss based on the fact that just after the Dodgers scored four in the sixth — back-to-back solo HRs by Manny Ramirez and Andre Ethier and a two-run shot by Casey Blake, all of Roy Oswalt — Wolf walked Lance Berkman to start the bottom half, leading to a two-run inning that tied the game.
Dodgers fall to 10-5, still lead the Pods by one. Chad Billingsley vs. Wandy Rodriguez tomorrow at 5:05, should be an all-Rodriguez battery for the Stros unless Pudge is given the night off for some reason.