Well, so much for all that “Zack Greinke is a god in Milwaukee” business, beaten out by “Greinke is basically in mid-March form after missing so much time this year”. So while allowing 12 baserunners and needing 9...
Well, so much for all that “Zack Greinke is a god in Milwaukee” business, beaten out by “Greinke is basically in mid-March form after missing so much time this year”. So while allowing 12 baserunners and needing 90 pitches to get through four innings is decidedly ugly, I won’t really worry about it too much so long as he’s healthy.
Despite Greinke’s poor start, the bullpen managed to pick him up for once with four scoreless innings out of Matt Guerrier, Ronald Belisario, & Javy Guerra. But while Greinke did at least collect two singles tonight, and while I like the idea of having starting pitchers like Clayton Kershaw, Greinke, & Hyun-jin Ryu who might not be total black holes at the plate — that’s Dee Gordon‘s job, no? — we’re once again talking about a Dodger loss thanks to a total inability to score.
Remember, as lousy as Greinke was, he still lasted longer than the 3.1 innings Milwaukee starter Hiram Burgos put forth. But despite 10 hits, not a single one went for more than a lone base, and the Dodgers ending up leaving 14 men on. The middle of the order — that’d be Adrian Gonzalez, Matt Kemp, & Andre Ethier — combined to whiff seven times, and given that Greinke drove in one of the two runs, the only hitter who managed to drive home anyone was Nick Punto. They did at least manage to bring the tying run up against Jim Henderson in the ninth, but the Milwaukee closer blew away pinch hitter Scott Van Slyke to end the game.
So here we are yet again, saddened by an impotent offense and little indication of change to come. Don’t forget that they get back right at it with a 10:10am PT matinee tomorrow, followed by a merciful day off on Thursday. Will we get some inevitable news that day? Well, the stories about the axe falling on a certain manager just won’t stop…
