(Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
Sunday June 21 - Dodgers 5 Angels 3
Father's Day in Anaheim with the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball crew televising the contest, what an excellent opportunity for the Dodgers to make another statement to the baseball nation as to the quality of their ballclub.
This was the third time this season the Dodgers have appeared on ESPN's Sunday Night edition, winning 8-2 against the Cubs in Chicago on May 31st and falling at home to the Phillies 7-2 the following week.
With this victory, the Dodgers were able to level their record on Father's Day for the decade at 5-5, and 2-2 against the Angels during that time frame.
Torre sent young Texas bred lefty Clayton Kershaw to the mound against the Angels ace righty John Lackey, who also carries a Texas brand though from a vintage 10 years earlier. Kershaw was able to earn his first win in four starts while Lackey has been saddled with three losses in his last five outings.
Each pitcher struck out five and walked four. The difference being Kershaw did not allow any runs in his seven innings of work, an outing that tied his career high for innings pitched, while Lackey was touched for four runs in eight innings.
The Blue Crew opened the scoring in the top of the fifth inning, as Pierre pulled a fastball into the right field corner to plate Kemp.
In the bottom of the frame, Kershaw displayed a great Houdini impersonation, getting out of a bases loaded, no out jam by inducing Abreu to tap back to him, starting a home to first double play. Hunter popped up to Furcal ending their chance to score.
The Dodgers doubled their lead in the seventh as Pierre doubled again to drive in Kemp, this time on a fly ball over the head of left fielder Rivera. Pierre was nabbed at third in an unsuccessful attempt to stretch the hit into a triple.
LA came back with two more runs in the eighth frame, on the power of Loney's fourth homer of the season. The play was subjected to review by instant replay, given the absurd way Anaheim has their right field wall—a 18 foot barrier with an electronic scoreboard face.
The top of the wall does not have a yellow stripe, just a metallic top up against unpainted concrete and a dark green railing. It is as if they are intentionally trying to create controversy and make the umpires job more difficult.
If the commissioner would actually properly administer the game instead of glad-handing every dollar possible, he would direct the Angels to correct this situation, either with a distinctive yellow stripe or the installation of a basket along the lines of what was put into Wrigley Field.
Broxton was summoned by Torre in the eighth inning to quell an Angel uprising, with one run in, the tying run at the plate, and rally monkeys hopping all over the joint. After walking Matthews on a full count, Broxton smoked Aybar on five fastballs on the outside half then punched his ticket on a foul tip off an inside slider.
Blake singled in the top of the ninth to cash in Pierre, a run that was useful as Broxton surrendered two runs on three hits in the bottom of the ninth before inducing a grounder from Napoli to end the game, cage the rally monkeys, and collect his 17th save on the season.
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