Sunday Night Baseball Live Blog Dodgers-Diamondbacks

Here we have a matchup of the top two teams in the NL West. Both will be sending out their respective sinker studs in Lowe (59.8% GB) and Webb (65.5% GB). Incidentally, they are 1-2 in groundball rate

Fangraphs Live Graph

- Pregame note: apparently, cleanup hitters aren't known for a lot of walks and strikeouts.

- If you're reading this blog, cheers to you, Scotty.

- Hey, it's Doogie Howser! I can't believe I actually remember that.

- Now I definitely don't think "James Loney" when I think "cleanup hitter". Sure, he's a 1st baseman and they are often cleanup hitters but Loney is not that guy.

- Groundball #1

- Home run! Ethier says, "F' your stats! This is for the old scout."

- Webb is having some sick movement on his pitches so far. Probably too much. A lot of balls are up to the Dodgers this inning.

- "Consistent" mention #1.

- GB #2 followed by another home run.

- Berroa: he of the 50 OPS+ this season showing why.

- There's #3, an infield single.

- Ah forget counting groundballs. You can look it up on Gameday. :P I'll still count "consistent/consistency/consistently". That was no.2 and 3 there. As soon as I say it, Webb gets the DP.

- Anyone else find it funny that the D-backs have traded for both a popular MSM target (Dunn) and darling (Eckstein)? It's the yin-yang of baseball transactions.

- Woot! A numbnut on the field! (why people do that, I'll never figure it out)

- You do realize that veterans can be inconsistent as well? Not sure that young players as a whole are more inconsistent.

- For tonight, Lowe has more "power" behind his sinker. Webb hasn't even touched 90 since the first while Lowe has.

- "Choking dogs". Is that you, Plaschke?

- Explain that swing, Loney. Yikes.

- You might want to update that score.

- Looks as though Ledezma is reprising the role of "well-traveled lefty" with Arizona now. His 4th team in 14 months.

- Yeah, they have done well against the NL West. That means they are likely to be better. Don't say they will.

- Would you believe that the Angels' magic number is just 9 already?

- Here's the "blowout game" banter fans know and love.

- Man, Gammons gets everything.

- He would mention those Big Red Machine Reds, wouldn't he?

- Um, where did that come from? Of course not everyone can play 2nd base.

- He just had to get Sheffield in there.

- Someone wasn't paying attention to how many outs there were.

- Look deep into these eyes:


A3P% FTW!

- Um, way to tease us.

- An NL MVP discussion without Albert Pujols fails at life. Finally, Jon Miller brings us some sanity. Phat Albert thanks you. Berkman and Utley still await dap.

- Will someone finally start comparing Reynolds to Kingman instead of comparing Dunn to Kingman?

- Wait, they're actually considering Santana? BUT HE DOESN'T HAVE TEH WINZ!!!

- There's plenty of irony there: a mention of Walter Cronkite School of Journalism on ESPN. A school named after a trusted reporter talked about while there's a man in a booth whom people can't trust with something as relatively trivial (considering other matters) as sports.

- Well said, Jon.

- Now that is an RBI that has plenty of value.

- I suppose you could give Wills some "changed the game" credit. Still, I would not wait with bated breath for Wills getting inducted.

- Here's the legend of Jonathan Broxton again making a Sunday Night appearance.

- Btw, that LaRoche "hit" was an error. Hit my ass.

- Joe seemed much more Morganesque tonight than the other three games I've covered on here. I blame David Eckstein!

- Game over. Dodgers win 8-1. Thanks for another edition of the live blog. Look forward to next week's Phillies-Mets clip. That should be rife with Jon and Joe goodness.