Postgame: Astros 3, Dodgers 0
The Astros defeated the Dodgers 3-0 tonight at Dodger Stadium. For a full recap and boxscore click here.
THE BARE ESSENTIALS:
• The Dodgers offense must not have gotten the memo that the All-Star break is officially over, managing just eight hits against five Houston pitchers while leaving a whooping 21 runners on base.
• Manny Ramirez, playing his first game in Los Angeles since coming off the 50-game suspension, was 1 for 4 with two strikeouts. His only hit was a single in the eighth inning.
• Orlando Hudson finished with three hits in four at bats, including a double.
• Randy Wolf gave up three runs on five hits over six innings and took the loss to fall to 4-4 on the year.
• Houston starter Wandy Rodriguez was superb over his six innings, surrendering five hits while striking out six to improve to 9-6. Rodriguez lowered his ERA to 2.81.
ETC...ETC.
• The Dodgers were blanked for the fifth time this season and failed to reach 25 games over .500 for the second time this year. The Dodgers now hold a 6.5-game lead over the Giants in the NL West.
• Dodger first baseman James Loney singled in the fifth inning, extending his hitting streak to a season-high 12 games. During the run, Loney is hitting .304 (14-for-46). The Texas native has appeared in 88 of the club's 89 contests
• Wandy Rodriguez has now tossed 17.0 scoreless frames over his last three outings.
• Houston reliever Alberto Arias extended his scoreless innings streak to 20.1 frames after retiring Juan Pierre, Rafael Furcal, and Andre Ethier in the seventh inning. The consecutive scoreless innings streak is the second-longest current run in the Majors behind Jeremy Affeldt.
ON DECK:
• In Game 2 of the four-game series the Dodgers send RHP Chad Billingsley (9-4, 3.38) against RHP Roy Oswalt (5-4, 3.85).
Vincent, the Dodgers left 9 runners on base, not 21.
I explained this before, but since you didn't get it, let's try it again ...
To get the correct number, you count the number of runners on base at the end of each inning, NOT add up the LOB number for each player in the lineup. Here is the inning-by-inning tally:
Here is an example from Thursday's game:
In the 7th inning, Loney led off with a single, then Hudson singled. Two guys are now on. Pierre and Furcal then struck out, and Ethier grounded out. The number of runners left on base is two, not six.
Once you realize that since there are only three bases, the maximum number of runners that can be left on base in an inning is three, it is a simple concept to grasp.
Oops! I somehow managed to omit (or delete) the inning-by-inning count of runners left on base. Here it is:
2nd: 1
4th: 2
5th: 2
6th: 1
7th: 2
9th: 1
Total: 9