Random Fandom

It is hard to write much about last night's game. It's hard to get excited about a game in which the Diamondbacks give up ten -- TEN! -- walks. Last time I checked, only one guy on the Giants is named "Bonds" (who drew 3 of those walks intentionally). I mean, you could tell the D-Backs were trying -- Tracy's barehanded pickup of a dribbler down the 3rd-base line to nail the runner early on was a thing of beauty. Brent Mayne, who's been having trouble hitting the broad side of a barn, reached out and dribbled a sinking pitch just past the 2nd baseman in, what, the 5th inning? But the bullpen, after pitching 4 scoreless innings, couldn't get the job done in the 10th.

Judging by the roster moves, Brenly is feeling the heat. Brian Bruney down, Scott Service up. Valverde is a threat to lose his closer's role. (Which begs the question -- who replaces him? Mantei's still injured... Koplove, maybe?) Hillenbrand and Bautista swapped spots in the order -- I think 6th is about right for Shea; Bautista probably can't be a cleanup hitter for long, but he's better than Shea.

And Scott Hairston evidently really liked his cup of coffee the last time he was here, because he had a great series against the Giants. It will be interesting to see whether Brenly decides to stick with him since the pop of Hairston's bat in this very small sample size has much better than Cintron's or Kata's.

So now we head down to Chavez Ravine for a 3-game set between two teams desperate to turn things around -- the D-Backs are 3-7 in their last 10 games while the Dodgers are 2-8.

For Dodger blogging news, I recommend both Dodger Thoughts and 6-4-2. Check 'em out...